Building a sustainable tomorrow: Innovation 4 Change & Industry Leaders Summit today at CERN in Geneva

The main part of the event was dedicated to a futuristic expo of the best MBA and PhD talents from all over Europe, part of the Innovation 4 Change (I4C) program developed in collaboration with CERN IdeaSquare, with the support of Exor and the financial contribution of Giovanni Agnelli Foundation. I4C is a laboratory for the future that aims to train innovators in the deep tech field, challenging MBA and PhD talents to solve global problems identified by industry and institutions within a European program at CERN IdeaSquare through proven scientific methodologies on technology, innovation and impact management. The jury was led by Fabiola Gianotti and John Elkann together with other personalities representing various institutions and companies, such as Dr. Francesco Profumo (Member of the Board of Directors of the European Innovation Council), Dr. Katherine Littler (Co- Lead, WHO Health Ethics and Governance Unit), Andrea Crisanti (Senator and Researcher), Stefano Buono (Co-founder and CEO of newcleo), Benedetto Vigna (Chief Executive Officer of Ferrari), Costantino Baldissara (President of Automar and Director of Sales, Logistics and Operations of Grimaldi) and Giuseppe Zefola (Director of ITCILO Training).

Here are the three finalists of the I4C expo chosen by the jury:

Fabiola Gianotti, Director General of CERN, commented: “Educating the next generation of scientists and innovators is part of CERN’s mission and we are delighted to support the development of young minds committed to making a difference in society.”

John Elkann, CEO of Exor (which controls Gedi, of which Italian Tech is a part), commented: “Innovation 4 Change and CERN bring together young European talents and challenge them to discuss today’s most complex problems: we are proud to support this program which has the ambition to help build a better world and we are committed to further developing its activities in the future.”

The afternoon, which was mainly attended by sector leaders representing 30 companies and institutional leaders from 15 institutions, was dedicated to the topic of cross-sectoral decarbonisation. Among the guests present, Giuseppe Artizzu (CEO of NHOA Energy), Stefano Buono (Co-founder & CEO of newcleo) and Benedetto Vigna (CEO of Ferrari).

Talent and technology to build the future

The morning session was dedicated to exploring and presenting collaboration models for companies’ long-term goals, especially regarding new and advanced technologies and value chains that have yet to be imagined. For these long-term challenges, CERN has been involved in designing effective pipelines and sandboxes. These models also offer excellent opportunities to create distributed centers together with other industries and institutions facing similar challenges, which can become educational and business empowerment possibilities for Europe’s young scientific and business community. The partner companies and institutions that supported the challenges and teams this year were Grimaldi Group, DSM, CNH Industrial, Iren Group, Biocentis, Rai Way, Il Cielo Itinerante, ITCILO, GHS Fund and Juventus.

After the expo part, the program saw a round table led by Edward Glanville of Economist Impact, part of The Economist Group (Senior Program Editor and responsible for planning events on sustainability) together with Francesco Profumo of the European Innovation Council (member of the Governing Council), Davide Coppola of the European Space Agency (head of initiatives for space applications) and Pablo García Tello of the CERN EU Office (head of the section New projects and initiatives) to discuss together the enormous potential of public partnerships -private and collaborations between institutions and companies.

The morning ended with a chat between Dr Fabiola Gianotti, John Elkann and Dr Amelie Schoenenwald (ESA Astronaut Reserve Group), who discussed and inspired the audience to greater communication and intergenerational collaboration as a key leadership tool.

Companies and institutions for a sustainable world

In the afternoon, the focus was on decarbonisation strategies and projects to accelerate the energy transition. Attendees heard different perspectives on the future of energy in a panel led by Catherine Howe of Economist Impact, part of The Economist Group (Head of Content & Programmes), along with leaders from different sectors such as Giuseppe Artizzu (CEO of NHOA Energy) , Stefano Buono (Co-founder and CEO of newcleo), Benedetto Vigna (CEO of Ferrari), Francesca Protano (CNH Industrial Corporate Development, Technologies & CNH Industrial Ventures) and Marco Liccardo (Chief Technology & Digital Officer of Iveco Group).

After the panel, the session focused on specific currently successful decarbonisation projects within the industrial sector by companies such as Cubogas, Ferrari, MAN Energy Solutions, New Holland, Bloom Biorenewables and Goldbeck Solar. This was followed by an extended discussion session among industry leaders to explore potential cross-cutting partners for representatives of the thirty companies present.

The day ended with a visit to the ATLAS control room to better understand how CERN tackles complexity through models of science and collaboration.