1. Exploiting research outcome at Engineering
Massimo Canducci
Research and Innovation Division
Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A.
06 Sept 2012
1

2. Engineering
/ group highlights
• The
leading
Italian
independent,
privately-­‐owned
software
and
Information
Technology
services
company
●●●●●●●●●●
• 7%
of
domestic
market
• 6,400
staff
in
Europe
Brazil
and
South
America
Argentina
• A
global
player
in
the
EMEA
area
and
LATIN
AMERICA
• 1,000
large
accounts
Belgium
on
all
vertical
markets
• Consulting,
business
solutions,
technology
solutions,
Italy
IT
management
services
Lebanon
2

3. Engineering
/ group positioning on the market
Engineering
is
a
partner
Telco
Public
with
strong
vertical
business
Administration
skills
and
a
cross-­‐cutting
view
of
technology
and
solutions
10.5%
Industry
32.3%
36.1%
Services
and
Utilities
21.1%
Finance
3

4. Engineering
/ group results
VALUE
OF
EBITDA
PRODUCTION
92.2
92.0
775.7
88.6
758.6
724.0
ORDER
● ● ● ● ● ● ● 507.9
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
423.6
● ● ● ● ● 543.6
BACKLOG
4

5. Engineering Group
/ the model
Business Unit Research and Innovation Division
Telecommunication Research
Competence Center
Utilities
Open Source
Innovation
Industry Identity Management/PKI
Enterprise Content Management
Public Administration / Health
Broadband Media Services
Fonderie Multimediali
Finance
Tablet Platforms
Software Factories ERP
5

6. Research and Innovation Division
/ identity card
• Founded
in
1987
• 150
research
projects
executed
• 30
active
projects
• 250
researchers
• 120
solution
architect/technology
specialist
(ERP
excluded)
• 6
branches:
Palermo,
Torre
Annunziata,
Roma,
Orvieto,
Padova,
Trento
+
2
subsidiaries
hosted
by
Universities
(Lecce,
Benevento),
1
branch
abroad:
Bruxelles
6

7. Research Activities
/ a network of scientific collaborations
Bolzano Manchester London
Fraunhofer
Trento INRIA
Politecnico Milano
CERN
Politecnico Torino
IRCAM
Engineering Research and Innovation
Roma III
SAP
Sannio
CR Fiat
Napoli
Ti.LAB
Pisa
Microsoft
Palermo
7

8. Research Activites
/ research areas
Computing Service
Infrastructure Engineering
Trustworthiness/ Usage
Security
Intelligent
User
Systems
Experience
8

9. Research and Innovation
/ innovation model: starting a virtuous circuit
Ideas for Research Projects Innovative technological/
architectural Solutions
Research Innovation Production
Research Projects Results Architectural and technological Tests
Needs from the Market
9

10. Exploitation
/ principles
• Engineering
is
a
System
Integrator
on
the
market.
• The
involvement
in
research
projects
is
an
investment.
• The
main
goal,
at
the
end
of
a
research
project,
is
the
placement
on
the
market.
• To
be
successful
we
start
from
the
beginning
of
the
process:
the
proposal.
Market
10

11. Exploitation
/ actors
•
R&D:
Research
and
Development
Manager:
ideas
concepts,
proposal
experience,
good
relationship
with
potential
partners
• BUDM:
Business
Unit
Development
Manager:
ideas
concepts,
market
experience,
good
relationships
with
clients
• R&D
lab:
Architects
and
Developers
in
R&D
division,
great
experience
in
research
projects
• BU
lab:
Architects
and
Developers
in
Business
Unit,
great
experience
in
market
projects
11

12. Exploitation
/ phases
• in
Proposal:
find
the
right
“idea”
considering
the
Call
properties
and
the
needs
from
the
market.
(R&D,
BUDM)
• during
Project:
develop
the
project
goal
also
considering
the
future
placing
on
the
market.
(mixed
team
R&D
lab
-­‐
BU
lab)
• after
Project:
deliverable
consolidation,
improvement,
specialization.
(BU)
• at
the
end:
idea
/
prototype
/
product
/
service
placing
on
the
market
(BU)
12

13. Exploitation
/ general approach
We
are
using
a
model
in
which
a
Business
Unit
and
the
R&D
labs
participate
together
in
a
research
project.
This
is
different
from
the
usual
"technology
transfer"
approach
(sequential,
first
R&D
“innovates”
and
THEN
transfers
to
one
or
more
business
units).
The
key
point
is
the
word
“together”.
13

14. Exploitation
/ advantages
Integrate the teams from the
start, creates a better alignment
of development to business
needs,
It also creates a better
awareness at business unit
level of what an R&D
partnership can do.
It helps to setup a partnership
with other organizations.
14

15. Exploitation
/ example 1 - project PERSEUS - www.perseus-fp7.eu
Description:
• domain: maritime surveillance
• 29 partners, 42 M€ cost, 27 M€ funding
• This is a large demonstration project
and for Engineering we have Defence
and Space (D&S) unit and R&D labs
• The goal is to interface the national
maritime surveillance from Spain,
Portugal, France and Italy and then
Italy, Greece to create a continuous
surveillance management of the
Mediterranean - targeting illegal
immigration, trafficking etc
15

16. Exploitation
/ example 1 - project PERSEUS - www.perseus-fp7.eu
Approach:
• D&S brings in their solution and
technology that already exists and is
implemented at Italian level
• Through the project, EII R&D and D&S
collaborate (also with other organizations
from the other countries) to define a data
model and an architecture enabling all the
systems to talk to each other
• D&S implements some versions of these
interfaces (called PERSEUS connectors)
to actually make the Italian system talk to
the other systems
• R&D refines the data model based on the
real-life results of these interfaces
16

17. Exploitation
/ example 1 - project PERSEUS - www.perseus-fp7.eu
Results:
• Perseus is a pilot with real-life exercises
(i.e. operations of surveillance in the
Mediterranean) with boats, planes,
satellite information, weather
information etc.
• For EII, this is beyond technology
transfer, it is a collaboration at
development level.
• The collaboration also increases the
visibility of our company on the EU
scene.
17

18. Exploitation
/ example 2 - project SEMIRAMIS - www.semiramis-cip.eu
Description:
• The purpose is to deploy a pilot across Europe to
enable citizens that move from one EU country to
another (for instance students from one university to
another, a family moving with one parent changing
jobs etc) to transfer their administrative information
between two city administrations, two universities
etc
• In this information transfer we have two challenges:
• communicate the information related to a
citizen but
• let the citizen to have control on this transfer,
meaning that depending on who receives this
information, the citizen can control which part is
provided.
18

19. Exploitation
/ example 2 - project SEMIRAMIS - www.semiramis-cip.eu
Approach:
• We used the same model - collaboration between a
business unit (EngiWeb – a company in
Engineering Group) and the R&D labs.
• EngiWeb had the solution (a system to manage
user access to information), but it is used mainly
within single (large) organizations.
• The combination of R&D and the business unit
means that through Semiramis, the EngiWeb
solution will be extended to function across different
organizations and countries.
19

20. Exploitation
/ example 2 - project SEMIRAMIS - www.semiramis-cip.eu
Results:
• Engiweb had a new release of the solution, ready to
go on EU market.
• Collaboration outside of Italy is designed to bring
additional commercial opportunities for the EII
solutions.
20

21. Exploitation
/ lessons learned
• Technology transfer is made easier when
collaboration starts earlier.
• Real-life can happen - for instance, when a
business unit transforms into a spin-off.
This does not mean technology transfer
approach used is dead, it increases the
competency acquired at R&D level who
can then take it into another collaboration
as well as creating joint market
opportunities between the spin-off and the
main company.
21

22. Exploiting research outcome at Engineering
Massimo Canducci
Research and Innovation Division
Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A.
06 Sept 2012
22