Author: albe@mip.polimi.it

SMEs which receive EU funding drastically outperform those who don’t

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SMEs which receive EU-guaranteed loans outperform those that don’t in areas including asset, sales and productivity growth, according to a new research report from emlyon business school and Politecnico di Milano School of Management.

The report assesses the short and long-term economic effects that EU guaranteed loans have on beneficiary firms. These loans were provided to SMEs under programs funded by the European Commission and managed by the European Investment Fund (EIF).

Fabio Bertoni and Anita Quas, professors of finance at emlyon, and Massimo G. Colombo, professor of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance at Politecnico di Milano School of Management, analysed data collated on over 85,000 loans granted to 57,000 individual French SMEs between 2002 and 2016, for a total amount of EUR 4.65bn.

During the study, SMEs who received these loans were matched with a ‘twin’ firm that had not benefited from this scheme. The twin firms were almost identical to beneficiary SMEs in terms of industry, location, current and predicted growth, employment rate, size and age. These twin firms gained funding through more traditional bank loans, other forms of external investment such as venture capital, or did not receive any added funding at all.

Professor Massimo G. Colombo says, “Most banks act very conservatively. If they think a venture has any possibility of failing or being too risky, it is likely they will be very cautious in giving a loan. This means that many SMEs which are perhaps riskier ventures, but have the capacity to be successful, are unlikely to receive funding. These EU-guaranteed loans step in as a security buffer to banks, ensuring potentially profitable SMEs receive the funding they deserve.”

The study found that over the ten-year period, SMEs who received these EU-guaranteed loans outperformed those who didn’t by experiencing on average a;

  • 9% additional asset growth
  • 7% additional sales growth
  • 8% additional employment growth
  • More than 2.5% additional productivity growth
  • 5.7% decrease in the likelihood of defaulting.

Professor Fabio Bertoni says, “The results are consistent with the fact that one of the biggest blocks to SMEs’ growth is a lack-of financing, and experiencing financial constraints. In fact, 30%-40% of EU SMEs cited limited funding as a very significant reason for lack of growth in an EIF survey. These loans alleviate SMEs financial constraints, easing the pressure on firms and allowing them to invest in what they deem the most important areas for growth.”

Previous research has stated that 85% of new jobs in the EU come from SME’s. The researchers suggest that it is no surprise that schemes such as these EU-guaranteed loans are beneficial to the EU in terms of job creation.

 

Fluid, integrated and mixed: here’s the publishing industry of the future

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The New York Times recently reported 700 million dollars in revenue just for its digital business. On the other hand, at a global level, revenue for the information industry is down in many countries, including Italy, as news publications struggle to interpret the current communication context in an economically sustainable way. How is the market for information evolving?

«This situation doesn’t surprise me and has very deep roots – says Giuliano Noci, professor of Strategy & Marketing at Politecnico di Milano’s School of Management and Vice Rector for China at the same university –. In the past some people thought that advertising alone could sustain an online business, a prediction that was proved wrong. At the same time, twenty years ago many publishers responded to the arrival of digital by cutting costs and lowering quality as a result. That turned out to be a mistake, because news today has become a commodity: news alone has no value, anyone can provide it. It was and is necessary to offer depth of analysis, the ability to interpret phenomena in the medium and long term. In the United States they have moved in this direction, increasingly strengthening the component of interpretation with respect to reporting of pure and simple current events and leveraging off the reputation that comes from the prestige of their brands».

The web hasn’t led to a lowering of quality, rather to a polarization between those who care only about price, and so look for free contents, and those who instead are looking for quality and are ready to pay for it.

 «Then there’s also an organizational aspect, on which Italy is particularly late – continues Professor Noci –. Delivering information today doesn’t only mean producing texts, but working from a multimedia perspective, which means centralized newsrooms instead of newsrooms separated from web activities».

At the base of the success of some publishing models there’s therefore also a rethinking of the relationship between digital means and “traditional” journalism, with an eye on greater integration between the two components.

In addition, we are witnessing a reversal in some workflows, with news that is produced directly for digital channels and the paper versions of newspapers that serve as a collection or “best of” the contents that appeared digitally even several days earlier.

Thus it’s not surprising that some iconic newspapers have been purchased and relaunched by big web entrepreneurs. Recently Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce (the world’s leading CRM platform), and his wife announced the acquisition of the famous Time weekly. And behind the revival of The Washington Post there’s Jeff Bezos, founder of the famous e-commerce portal Amazon, who in 2013 took it over, full of debt, from the Graham family. And to those who asked him the reason for this purchase, Bezos answered that Internet destroyed most of the advantages that dailies had built up over time but offered them a gift: free global distribution. To benefit from that gift, Bezos implemented a new business model no longer based solely on high revenue per reader, but on the acquisition of a greater number of readers.

But does English language information also benefit from the large size of the audience and its different cultural predisposition?  «No – answers Giuliano Noci –. If Italian media survived twenty years ago, there’s no reason it can’t in the current environment, in which instead, if you know how to exploit it, there are prospects for greater growth. My experience with omnichannel sales leads may to say that the presumed immaturity of consumers is instead an inadequate offering, which over time ends up also negatively impacting demand.
If many publishers in Italy and in Europe are in trouble, it’s because they are not up to manoeuvring the changes underway in society and don’t offer something that is perceived as being of value».

Digital is growing, but according to R&S Mediobanca data, 91.6% of worldwide publishing turnover still comes from print media.  What’s more, publishers that are solely digital like Buzzfeed have announced cuts, while many new publishing products are born in a mixed print-digital form.  Professor Giuliano Noci comments: «Today the mixed model prevails, because people prefer to use media in a mixed manner.
Both digital and print fundamentalists are wrong. All the most recent studies tell us that consumption behaviours must be segmented not based on individuals, but on the life context in which they’ve found themselves. So, there’s not the person who under all conditions prefers to be informed by the radio, TV, web or by reading a newspaper, but everyone, depending on the moment of the day or the situation in which they find themselves, favours one or the other means. Behaviours are very fluid and can be intercepted only by an equally fluid offering».

 

 

 

 

 

 

The manager of today (and tomorrow)

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The job market of the near future will feature managers open to change and able to evolve. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, or rather the use of technology in numerous activities previously carried out exclusively by man, threatens some professions, promises to create new ones, and requires an effort to adapt from everyone, in particular from those with decision-making roles.

That of manager is one of the professions that has the least to fear from changes underway, indeed managers will take on an increasingly key role. But precisely for this reason managers have a greater need than others to update their expertise to be prepared for the continuous evolution of job scenarios. The evolution that they are called upon to interpret and manage.

The Future of Jobs Report 2018, published by World Economic Forum, indicates the professions tied to reasoning and decision-making, and those related to coordination, development, management and consulting, as the two categories in which the relationship between hours worked by humans and machines will remain decisively tilted towards the former. But the same report stresses that by 2022, at least 54% of managers will be required to undergo a major re-skilling or upskilling. Many of the companies interviewed declared their intention to concentrate their efforts to upgrade expertise on employees with high value-added positions.

The manager of the future, called on to navigate in a complex society that changes continuously and at a very rapid pace, on one hand needs always up-to-date hard skills, especially in the technological field, and on the other hand soft skills like analytic thinking, resilience, creativity, emotional intelligence, flexibility.

The matter was also discussed in the “Human skills and drivers for change” roundtable, held on 2 February at MIP Politecnico di Milano during the first EMBA Day 2019 (the event is part of the “Practising Leadership cycle”, whose next appointment is scheduled for 6 March on the theme of “Empower your career”). On that occasion, Pino Mercuri, Human Resources Director at Microsoft Italia, focused on the issue of obsolescence of IT skills. “The average engineering or technological skill has a shelf life between 24 and 48 months –said Mercuri –. However, we don’t have complete clarity about the skills that will be necessary in the near future.  We talk about Machine Learning, of AI, of IoT, but they’re often more passwords than real concepts”.

Faced with this increased instability on required skills, the ability to learn and the motivation to do so over one’s working life become increasingly important. “At Microsoft we tried to make everyone understand that learning isn’t only necessary but is also an element of evaluation – added Mercuri –. In our performance management system, we ask you to declare what you intend to do to grow and learn, and the answer to that question is verified during the next evaluation step”.

The head hunter Jacopo Pasetti, also present at the roundtable, focused on two concepts, awareness and passion: “Awareness should be considered as an understanding of our career path and what we truly like to do. It’s necessary so that the continuous updating required due to the rapid evolution of skills isn’t considered to be a weight. So you must choose your career path not on the basis of what’s in fashion at the moment but by following your passions, in addition to a clear strategy”. 

However, the importance of soft skills shouldn’t lead to neglecting hard skills. “We’re in a historical moment in which they’re trying to convince us that skills and culture aren’t so important after all – stressed Fulvia Fiaschetti, Global Talent Acquisition Associate Director of Amplifon –. I believe instead that the business world strongly opposes this type of thinking”. Technical expertise, the manager argues, is needed especially at the entrance in a company, while soft skills are developed later and serve to make further progress. Communication, empathy, forward thinking are skills that can’t be learned from books.

The need to learn quickly also leads to the spread of a culture of error, understood as an invitation to continuously dare and experiment, also using failure as a means for learning.  “The error isn’t only possible but is also necessary to acquire an increasing number of skills – pointed out Pino Mercuri –. If you’re making mistakes, it’s probably because you’re truly trying to innovate”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peeking inside Zambon with Irina

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Project works are an important step in the path towards a Master Degree. Indeed, they help students to build their career network and to put into practice the lessons learnt in class.
Thus, finding the perfect match for the project work is fundamental.
Just as happened to Irina, iMPM student, who found in Zambon an exciting working environment and in Paola Albani a dedicated mentor.

 

Why did you choose Zambon for your internship?

It was a good chance to work in an environment offering what matters most to me at work: a company that cares for its employees, challenging tasks, and a great team to work with.
Speaking in detail, Zambon is an Italian family-owned pharmaceutical company that – thanks to its high-quality products and services –  has earned a strong reputation over the years.
I believe that the reason for this success lies in its corporate person-oriented philosophy, which strongly reflects my values.
You can also see the company as a place for both personal and professional growth: initiative is always welcome and people are involved into different business processes accordingly to their interests.

In addition, the campus offers a wide range of services such as a gym, piano lessons during the lunch-time, open spaces to play table games with your peers and much more… This contributes in making every working day enjoyable.

Secondly, joining the SAP Digital Transformation project gave me the opportunity to add new tools to my toolbox. I see this project as an opportunity, not only to sharpen what I was learning during the Master programme, but also to face the challenges of an unknown industry and project type.
I am confident that such complex IT project will make me more marketable after the internship and also show me as a “fast-learner” who is looking to add value fast.

The last reason was easy access to mentors I could learn from. The Project is implemented by three organizations (Zambon, SAP Italy, and Techedge), giving me the chance to work with professionals with different backgrounds. This increased my exposure within the company and introduced me to a valuable resource of expertise brought to the Project by each of these people.

Moreover, I’m very excited to work closely with my current manager Paola Albani, who has more than 30 years of experience in managing that kind of projects. She inspired me to accept this internship and set a goal of making the greatest impact on the Project I can.

 

As you mentioned her, we would like to ask Paola how Zambon benefits from the presence of an iMPM student.

I’m particularly proud to have had this idea! Of course, it’s an opportunity to have these students, as they can contribute by adding value through their school knowledge, desire to do, faster capability of learning. They make a difference in our daily project activities. Often we make them busy, but they are responding very well. In short, it’s a great experience!

 

Paola suggested that interns take part in the daily project activities at Zambon. Could you share your experience?

I came to Zambon in September 2018 during the “Explore” phase, thus I could catch the very beginning of the Project implementation process. Since the first day, I could feel like an equal team member despite the fact I was the only international young professional in the group.

As a Project Manager intern, a large part of my work involves tracking the progress of the project, the stakeholders’ management and the facilitation of their communication with the Project team to ensure that both parties are aligned.
During this internship, I have improved presentation skills, got used to multitasking work, and even enforced creative skills such as movie making. A nice bonus was the attendance of the SAP annual event held in Milan, where I met colleagues involved in similar projects around the world and got the training across the vast SAP knowledge base.

 

Well, it seems you are learning a lot. Are you applying any of the teachings of the Master, too?

This internship is definitely a good way to test what I have learned in class. Moreover, my Master dissertation analyses our Project implementation methodology and PM tools, and compares them with the academic theory and previous business cases.

Thus, I have the chance to apply most of the tools given to us at school on daily basis. Also, I am grateful to our leadership class that developed a great approach to learning how to produce videos. I could successfully use this skill to create learning videos for our key users and support the innovative approach to Project implementation.

 

Today, there is a lot of talk about reverse mentorship. So, we have a last question for Paola.  What did you learn from Irina?

Irina has a so kind way to approach things that she has been able to create a special and positive atmosphere in any situation. She is a good motivator, and she has always good words to say to anybody any time she sees difficulties.

As a student, she has also shared her school knowledge to learn and teach methodology related to the project. We often discuss differences between school theory and work practice, which is an interesting and useful conversation. She is a good listener but also a good advisory as she is not bored by business dynamics.

 

Many thanks to both Irina and Paola for giving us a great insight of what the project work experience looks like both for interns and mentors.

 

 

 

Milan is always more fashionable

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From 19 to 25 February Milan is at the centre of the world. The reason? Fashion Week, an international event that celebrates one of the  city’s calling cards: six intense days of meetings that draw professionals and fashion lovers from every continent.

The calendar of the event, organised by the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (Italian Chamber of Fashion) and dedicated to autumn/winter 2019 womenswear, is rich in appointments and foresees 60 fashion shows, 81 presentations, 33 events, for a total of 173 collections.  As in the last editions, there is no shortage of events that are also open to non-professionals, allowing the public, and in particular fashion sector students, to get to know the reality of Made in Italy fashion, from big companies that marked its history to emerging talents.

“Great attention to new talents and internationality”, said Carlo Capasa, president of Camera della Moda about this edition. “There are many brands present in Milan for the first time, thanks to our support. Supporting new talents is one of our pillars, along with sustainability”.

Among newcomers are Gilberto Calzolari and Tiziano Guardini, winners of the Franca Sozzani GCC Award respectively in 2017 and 2018, who will present their collections.  Also highly anticipated are the debuts of Marco Rambaldi for Marios, of the Portuguese designer Alexandra Moura and of the brand of Mayo Loizou and Leszek Chmielewsk. As for the big names, this edition is marked by the return of Gucci, Angel Chen and Bottega Veneta with Daniel Lee.

«The Milanese event is one of four important “fashion weeks” that take place twice a year throughout the world: the others are those of Paris, London and New York – says Alessandro Brun, Director of the Master In Global Luxury Management at the School of Management of  Politecnico di Milano –. It’s an important appointment both for big fashion houses and young designers and emerging brands, which can showcase themselves in a “live” event. It’s also an important moment for the entire city: fashion shows are held in different locations, often in redeveloped areas like Tortona, Garibaldi-Porta Nuova-Isola, Piazzale Lodi, with great benefits also for local businesses».

In short, Milanese fashion sells, as last year’s figures confirm.  The sector’s more vibrant than ever and growing constantly.

Fashion companies in the city total 13,000, while Lombardy – the leading Italian region for the fashion business region – has almost 34,000. Textile exports from Lombardy in the first nine months of 2018 neared 10 billion euros, up 3.6% on the previous year. The city of Milan alone exceeded 5 billion euros, with growth of 6.4%, confirming its position as absolute leader.

Last year’s Fashion Week brought Milan earnings of 19 million euros in the hospitality sector alone, up 2 million on the 2017 edition. The total economic impact for related industries (transport, museums, shops, restaurants) hit 160 million euros, involving some 137,000 employees and 18,000 companies.

The 2019 edition, starting from these premises, aimed at reinforcing, with the support of the City of Milan, the connection between fashion and territory using for events unusual spaces like Palazzo Reale’s Sala delle Cariatidi or the Cavallerizze space in the Museum of Science and Technology. Also planned is the presentation, on the part of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, of the film “Welcome to Milano”, produced by The Blink Fish, in which a group of models takes spectators to explore Milan and its most secret places.

So years go by, but Milan never goes out of fashion. «But it’s good to keep a close eye on changes – says Alessandro Brun –. The big brands are increasingly paying attention to costs compared to the past. And then there are new technologies and new ways of doing things: Burberry launched the first global fashion show in 2010, presenting the autumn-winter collection in live streaming on seven different sites and projected in 3D in the theatres of five different cities and a few years after that offered the possibility of buying in shops the very items shown at the same time on the catwalk, revolutionising the paradigm that saw fashion shows present clothing well in advance of their sale.

 But I don’t believe this can endanger the Milanese event, which boasts an over 60-year history. Indeed, the city remains a reference point for the entire Italian fashion system, whose total revenue rose from 52 billion euros in 2011 to 54 billion in 2017 thanks to the contribution of 46,000 companies and over 400,000 workers.  Our product quality and Italian craftmanship are recognised for their excellence internationally».

Applying to the International MBA at MIP: a seamless and friendly affair

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If you are wondering if doing an International MBA is your call, my recommendation as an adventurous soul is simply to jump the cliff and trust your instinct. The important thing is to have time to take the necessary steps, to get prepared for the journey.

I was already living in Italy when I decided to apply for an MBA. I won’t lie about the fact MIP was not my first choice for continuing my graduate education. What caught my attention about MIP was the kind and efficient support since the moment I asked for information about the Master programs on the school website. The Marketing recruiting team contacted me by e-mail, inviting me to send my CV to recommend me the program that suited my professional experience. They considered the MBA was my best choice for my career path. There are monthly promotional events, as well as fairs around the world to get first-hand information about the MIP and its Master programs.

I applied for the Full-time International MBA one year in advance. The application process started with an online form where I included my academic and professional records. I also did the TOEFL and GRE exams in Milan.

Just three days after submitting my application documents I was already contacted by Ann-Marie from Germany, who presented herself as my recruiter and invited me to schedule the MIP test and a motivational Interview on campus.

Due to work constraints I had problems scheduling my test before 5pm on a weekday. Ann-Marie was very kind and flexible, offering me the alternative to present the exam via skype from my home after working hours. The exam consisted of a business case analysis, data interpretation and a domino test. Compared to other schools which only ask for GMAT and GRE, I believe the MIP entrance test gives you the opportunity to show your logical and analytical skills, in a thorough manner.

During the interview on the Bovisa Campus I met Bhor from India, another caring and professional recruiter who made me feel at ease and was eager to answer my questions regarding the school and the program. During this experience, Bhor highlighted the importance of diverse and international profiles at MIP.

After completing the admission test and interview I chose to apply to the assistantship program, to cover part of my tuition fees. MIP offers many interesting scholarships, plus an early-bird discount.

Two weeks after submitting the remaining documents, I got the wonderful news: I was accepted to be part of the 39th Full-time MBA program at MIP. I couldn’t believe it. In less than a month I already had successfully completed the admission process, almost one year before the start of the program. I dropped my other applications immediately, I was convinced I had already made the smart choice.

I later found out my assistantship work was chosen based on my professional experience. Now I’m happily writing the monthly articles about my MBA journey and shooting videos with my classmates, while completing my business studies. How cool is that? Both Ann-Marie and Bhor are now my colleagues. Thanks to them and all the hard work of the marketing and recruiting team, the admissions process at MIP, is not a hassle but a smooth and pleasant process.

Stay tuned for the next chapter, where one of my classmates will share his experience after attending an MBA Tech Talk at the Microsoft headquarters in the UK…

 

About the author

Roberto Niño Betancourt

Roberto is a student of the International full time MBA. He is a Colombian filmmaker and new media artist based in Milan. He has collaborated as a post producer for MTV Latin America, as well as many European production companies. He is very passionate about international cross-cultural collaborations, craftsmanship and the sustainable conservation of natural resources.

 

5 Reasons Why You Need To Network With Companies During Your MBA

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To get a good job, it makes sense to network with your future employer. But there’s more to it than that.

MBA candidates are an ambitious bunch.
In a QS survey, over half of MBA applicants polled said in 10 years’ time they saw themselves as director of a large company; just under half set their sights higher at CEO. But how do they set out to achieve this goal?

At MIP Politecnico di Milano, the answer is MBA boot camps.
The boot camps expose students to top Italian and multinational companies so that MBA students can make their names known. Leading companies are brought on-campus at MIP to engage with students directly about the challenges business are currently facing through talks, case study discussion, and business simulations.

That insight into the top echelons of real-life business helps students fulfil their future career ambitions, according to MIP professor Davide Chiaroni, manager of MIP’s Circular Economy boot camp.

Students are enthused by what they learn, Davide explains, as engaging with industry leaders on an MBA helps to bridge the gap between the theory of the academic program and practical, real-life application in the business world.

Here are the five reasons why you need to network with companies during your MBA:

  1. Career clarity

    Speaking with companies in industries you’re interested in helps you find out what working in that industry is really like.
    Davide says that most students choose boot camps in line with their graduation ambitions and that talking to managers working high up in these companies gives students a clearer idea of whether that path is right for them.
    “Maybe they’ll realise they want to move in a completely different career direction!” he smiles. “Either way, the experience is useful.”

  2. Business insight

    Interaction with businesses and discussions about current challenges in the market cultivates an understanding of the business world and how it’s connected. This means that when students graduate from their full-time MBA they feel in the loop with what’s going on and who’s involved.
    There are two compulsory boot camps at MIP Politecnico di Milano; Finance in Action and Sales Strategy in Action. Then, students can choose from a wealth of elective options. These include, among others; Circular Economy, Big Data Analytics, and Entrepreneurship.
    In the Circular Economy boot camp, students build models around how to adapt to digital disruptions and the inclusion of sustainability into businesses, bouncing off what company representatives have told them.

  3. The chance to make a good impression

    Working through business challenges with industry leaders gives MBAs the chance to highlight their approach to problem-solving and consequently make a real impression on possible future employees.
    “Even if managers are very well informed with a strong network, they will tend to focus on their peers and competitors so a completely fresh pair of eyes is valuable to them,” Davide explains.
    “The exchange of ideas is mutually beneficial and managers will remember those who make impressive contributions.”

  4. Contacts and connections

    Exposure to industry leaders and discussing real business challenges with classmates and top managers solidifies a strong professional network.
    MIP selects companies for its boot camps that it has strong working relationships with. This ensures that the company is not just using the opportunity to self-promote and consequently provides insights that are genuinely valuable to MBAs and their futures.
    According to Davide, because of the emphasis on informative discussion between companies and students, MBAs can develop a real rapport, asking detailed questions on the business models under the spotlight.

  5. Practical experience

    Gaining a real-life and practical understanding of how companies are tackling issues and adapting to disruption right now bolsters the theory behind business management and is especially useful to MBAs wanting to jump into new industries.
    Boot camps are a melting pot, mixing the real-life decision-making process of big companies with the theoretical approach of an MBA program.
    MIP Politecnico di Milano specifically chooses companies who are keeping pace with innovations in traditional markets. For example, Enel X; the business development company attached to one of the largest energy companies in Italy.
    They also work with startups generated from PoliHub (Politecnico di Milano’s startup incubator) which in 2018 was named the third best university incubator in Europe according to the UBI Global Index.
    “The company exposure in the boot camps puts into practice the building blocks of knowledge the MBAs have learned previously on the course about managerial decisions and problem assessment,” Davide concludes.
    “It does this in a way that solidifies MBA students’ knowledge and sets them up well for future career moves.”

     

    Originally published on 

Milano, the startup capital

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An innovative city. The numbers show it: in an increasingly dynamic Italian landscape, Milan confirms its position as the favourite place for young entrepreneurs. In the shadow of the Madonnina, the symbol of the city known throughout the world, are concentrated 15% of Italy’s new, innovative SMEs. Among 9,742 entrepreneurial firms, between startups and small companies, set up in Italy in the last year, 1,505 are in Milan. But, beyond this number, what’s perhaps more important is the extremely high survival rate (98%) of these new companies, evidence of a very favourable environment for the development of new businesses.

The figures were presented recently by Cristina Tajani, councillor for Labour Policies for the City of Milan, who also pointed out that the city invested some 11.5 million euros in new companies from 2012 to 2018. In the same period, the revenue generated by new businesses exceeded one billion euros.

In Italy, Milan can thus boast a leadership position that dates back decades and an ecosystem of services, institutions and infrastructure that offer entrepreneurs all the necessary instruments to allow their business to best function, including easier access to credit. Moreover, the entrepreneurial attractiveness of the Lombard capital is now well established and recognized at an international level. In 2016, Financial Times elected Milan as the Italian capital of startups. Then in the last three years, the city has been able to capitalize on the experience of Expo 2015, which successfully repositioned it on the world scene.
And, as the United Kingdom finds itself struggling to deal with Brexit, several institutions and large companies are considering abandoning London and looking to Milan for their next headquarters. Prestigious multinationals long ago chose it for their Italian offices: Microsoft, IBM, Google, Deloitte, Adecco, Gartner and many others.

The Lombardy Region also does its part in providing loans and other financing to innovative startups: a concrete example of this is the “Intraprendo” tender, which offers up to 65,000 euros in funding and is part of a broader three-year Strategic Program for research and innovation with total resources of about 750 million euros.

Empirically supporting this widespread awareness of the leading role played by Lombardy and, in particular, by Milan, for Italian startups are also the figures of the Hi-tech Startup Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano’s School of Management, which quantifies investments made by formal investors, such as venture capital funds and informal ones, like business angels and crowdfunding platforms, in startups with a high innovative content in the Digital, Cleantech & Energy and Life Science sectors.

Since 2012, the year in which both the Observatory was established and the Innovative Startup Decree was issued by the Ministry of Innovation and Economic Development, Lombard hi-tech startups raised a total of more than 600 million euros, while those headquartered in the province of Milan raised more than 550 million euros. In 2018 alone, the capital raised by the 43 startups receiving financing amounted to almost 250 million euros, about half of Italy’s total.

In addition to the strong presence of high-quality startups and growth potential, the city boasts a well-developed support system made up both of investors, whose capital enables startups to achieve their growth potential, and accelerators and incubators, which instead concentrate on companies in their embryonic phase, providing support and expertise to help fine-tune the business model.

These actors are sometimes tied to local universities, like the Poli360 investment fund – a partnership between Politecnico di Milano and the VC fund 360 Capital Partners for the financing of technological ideas – and PoliHub, a Politecnico di Milano incubator and accelerator, the third best incubator in the world according to Ubi Index, an international research firm specialized in the sector.

So there is fertile ground for all aspiring startuppers who want to become part of Milan’s vibrant economic fabric and a dense network of business relations that is destined to grow. Just ask Palermo native Giovanni De Lisi, who in Milan found the opportunity to set up Greenrail, a project involving eco-sustainable railway sleepers made from recycled material that can already boast a contract in the US worth 75 million euros. Or the Calabrian Osvaldo De Falco, who chose Milan for his Biofarm, a bonafide “digital agricultural” company that attracted the attention of Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore thanks to its record crowdfunding: it asked for 80,000 euros, it got 300,000. And it’s now looking to expand abroad.

Milan’s appeal, however, isn’t strictly limited to business: fashion, food, the artistic patrimony, the cultural offering, even the climate, which in recent years has become milder, make it a city in which life is pleasant and stimulating. A winning mix.

But are you born a startupper or do you become one? Undoubtedly, talent and insight are fundamental to launch a business. Yet an entrepreneur, today, also needs economic and technological skills.

So while PoliHub offers a perfect environment to incubate and develop new entrepreneurial ideas, it is also within the Politecnico di Milano, in its School of Management, that aspiring startuppers can gain the necessary expertise for the development of new business ideas.

MBA and Executive MBA programmes, for example, encompass Startup & Strategy courses, but there are also specific Master’s degrees like the Advanced Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, offered in collaboration with the Solvay Brussels School.

In addition, the MIP Management Academy offers an extensive catalog of courses for the public executive who wants to explore the theme of Entrepreneurship & Strategy.

First of all, together!

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Becoming an MBA student is a wonderful adventure, but also a hard choice!

You can’t predict how much your life is going to change, in terms of the resources you are going to invest and the time you are going to dedicate.

But if you are crazy enough to accept this challenge, then, once you kick off, you will discover an incredible and exciting world (assuming you are able to stick to every mandatory deadline…!)

Two months into the journey, thinking back to the first lesson makes me smile… it felt like my first day at elementary school. All around there were new faces, new professors, and of course, tons of information I had never heard before!

But at the same time, I cannot think about all these challenging moments without the face of someone close to me feeling the same way and motivating me with a smile or a joke.

Barcelona was exactly the consolidation of this first feeling: more than 60 people transforming  from unknown classmates into people sharing experiences, helping each other and slowly becoming friends.

I have so many concrete examples in mind, from the first moment we landed in Barcelona and none of us was able to recognize the face of another until the last day, when we were all enjoying free time together. And most of all, I bring back home the amazing experience that has been working with my team on our group assignment, so great experience!

Of course, the timetable was tight (otherwise it wouldn’t be an MBA), with the week’s schedule basically divided into two main parts: the first part on EADA’s Collbatò campus, with courses on leadership and ice-breaking outdoor training; the second part of the week in Barcelona at the EADA building, with lessons on Company behaviours and Macroeconomics.

And of course, group assignments every evening till dinner time (well, honestly, sometimes also after dinner time…) but, on top of all that, a lot of fun!

This experience made me think that the choice to apply for this MBA was the right one! MIP is really an incredible life experience! I am now eager to start the next topic and share a new challenge with a new team!

I am sure the bond that we created in Barcelona has represented only the fuse to the great network we are building as MIP students and, one day, as MIP Alumni   ̶  60 people feeling the same emotions and facing the same challenges, starting from the same point with the opportunity of discovering the power of our team!

 

 

About the author
 Pietro Cavallo

My name is Pietro and I grew up in Milan, where I am currently living. I work in Switzerland, in the Supply Chain division of a clothing multinational. I am the husband of an incredible wife and father of 1 crazy kid and ½…  I’ll keep you posted when the second ½ arrives…

 

LIGHT AND SHADOWS FROM THE COP24 IN KATOWICE

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There are only twelve years left for mankind to avert a climate catastrophe. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sounded the alarm on climate change at the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24), which took place in December in Katowice, Poland.

What judgement can be made about this critical international conference? What emerges is a mixed picture, with experts divided between those concerned about the lack of progress and those who focus instead on the importance of the results – albeit limited – that have been achieved so far.

“Climate change is a complicated negotiation process involving many countries. As such it is natural to expect slow progress”, stated Massimo Tavoni, Professor of Climate Change Economics at Politecnico di Milano School of Management. “The main objective of this year COP meeting was to take stock of where we are and come up with implementation guidelines. These objectives were achieved overall, but also showed how little progress has been achieved thus far. In particular, the meeting in Katowice underlined the political fragility of the Paris Climate agreement signed in 2015. The skeptical positions of the governements of the US, and of the just elected Brasilian one, in addition to the countervailing forces of countries in the Gulf, has casted doubts on the capacity of the Paris agreement to make real additional progress on emissions’ reductions. This while the science has been accumulating new worrying signs of the potentially devastating impacts of climate change on human and ecosystems” pointed out Tavoni, recipient of a European Research Council (ERC) grant evaluating how behavioural sciences can be used to promote pro-environmental behaviour.

Although technically the COP24 achieved its objective, which was to approve guidelines on the application of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change reached at the COP21 summit in 2015, a collective commitment to strive toward the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) was not reached. The objective of the Paris Agreement was to keep the increase in global temperatures below 2 °C compared to pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the rise to 1.5 °C.

“In order to do that, the objectives of voluntary reduction must be fixed at a national level, but it is also necessary to guarantee coherent, common and transparent methods in order to be able to compare the different objectives and the actions of different countries with the same methodology” observed Giuseppe Onufrio, Director of Greenpeace Italy. “Without this, each country would measure things their own way. The aim of Katowice was therefore to have the technical foundations to carry on, a goal which has been reached despite its challenges. At the same time, though, there was a marked decline in leadership”.

Conference attendees clearly saw this “decline in leadership” from the start of the conference, with a heated discussion on how to acknowledge the IPCC special report issued just two months before the Katowice conference evaluating the different impact on the climate that would be seen with a 1.5 °C increase in temperature and one of 2 °C.

The United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, all of which are oil producers, decided not to “welcome” the results presented by the climatologists. Therefore, at the end of the COP24, participants simply “took note” of the IPCC special report. There is a big difference between “using the little word ‘welcome’ or ‘taking note’, which means taking note without necessarily taking action” pointed out Onufrio.

Yet alongside the achievement of the technical objectives of the Katowice conference, which allow negotiations on climate commitments to continue, there were also other positive aspects of the COP24. Climate issues involving agriculture, soil and forests became a central part of policy discussions. And, for the first time, a real debate began about the future of coal. The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Science and the Polish Academy of Science presented a document recommending a transition away from reliance on coal in Poland by 2030.
That could also have some positive consequences in terms of employment, as Giuseppe Onufrio explained: “The sectors that will cease to exist, like those of the fossil fuels industry, have a high capital intensity and a low labour intensity, with the exception of mines, which will lose jobs anyway, in part due to automation which is affecting this industry too. Instead, in renewable sources of energy, there is much higher need for workers for every unit of energy produced”.