“An enzyme of the country’s technological growth”. This is how Alessandro Profumo describes Leonardo’s role for Italy, who spoke today before the Chamber’s Productive Activities Commission for an informal hearing on the industrial plan of the company. The impact of Covid-19 was felt above all for the Aerostructures division, explained the CEO, but the growth objectives have been met and exceeded, confirmed also for 2021. THE PLAN Even
before the outbreak of the pandemic, in February 2020, Leonardo launched the new strategic plan “Be tomorrow 2030”, strongly desired by the CEO and elaborated by the head of strategies Enrico Savio. It rests on three pillars: the strengthening of the core business, the transformation of the internal organization and the drive towards innovation. Focus on new technologies, digitalization and sustainability, concepts that the pandemic has then placed at the center of the international political agenda. Thus Leonardo found himself with a roadmap already capable of grasping the challenges of the future, made even more current by Covid-19. THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
Of course, the virus has made the international context even more complicated, characterized by “a very strong technological discontinuity”, explained Profumo. It means that technological changes in development and applications are faster, and that players from all over the world are investing heavily in them, including competitors “of colossal dimensions that can count on very strong national investments and structured export support”. And this is the context “to keep in mind”, said Profumo, recalling that “defense budgets are stable or growing all over the world, precisely because in a time of crisis geopolitical tensions tend to worsen and the need for safety”. It is to this need that Leonardo, the first Italian player in aerospace, defense and security, responds.LEONARDO’S POSITION
With 13.8 billion in turnover and the possibility of attacking a 15% share of the world market in the sector, explained the CEO, “we are great”. Leonardo with about 50 thousand employees, of which 31 thousand in Italy. “The company is strongly projected on the international market; 83% of our business is sold outside Italy; but 17% is very important, since a large part of product development is based on it ”. Leonardo allocates approximately 12% of its revenues to research and development, with nine thousand people working on this. On the other hand, the goal is to remain competitive and anticipate innovation. THE POSITIONING GOALS
“We want to play a leading role in the international consolidation process of the sector, first and foremost European,” said Profumo. However, we must avoid “being naive: there are much larger companies, with which if we sit down we will have the role of a younger brother”. Therefore, it is necessary “to be able to identify growth opportunities sector by sector”. In this sense, the manager listed Leonardo’s “positioning objectives”: “to be number one in the world in helicopters and in simulation and training solutions; number one in Europe in defense electronics; protagonists in international cooperation programs in aeronautics and autonomous systems; partner of security institutions; point of reference in Europe in the space sector “. THE MOVES
These directives include the agreement announced in April for the acquisition of 25.1% of Hensoldt, a leader in Germany in the field of sensors, with growing ambitions between robotics and cyber-security. A move that strengthens the positioning on defense electronics, a crucial segment of the sector, in a context that sees Leonardo well placed by the United Kingdom, the United States and, now, Germany. Among other things, in the same days the company had presented the purchase of 30% of GEM Elettronica, a company from the Marche region specializing in small and medium-sized 3D radars, inertial fiber optic systems, surveillance systems and electro-optical sensors. And the consolidation announced together with the project for the listing of 22% of the subsidiary Drs, which was then stopped due to “adverse market conditions”, and postponed.OBJECTIVE RESETTING THE DEBT
And then there is the focus within national borders. “We think we are a technological growth enzyme in the country,” the chief executive said. The ten LeonardoLabs, one for disruptive technology, transversal to the divisions, merged into the Be Tomorrow 2030 plan. For this reason “we have already hired 60 people, with the aim of reaching around 400”. The DaVinci-1 supercomputer in Genoa, already operational to support many technological developments, is part of the Labs. Among the objectives “achieved” there is also the debt trial. “Every now and then there is the idea that Leonardo has a very high and essentially unmanageable debt; it is absolutely not true, ”said Profumo. “We went into debt reduction goals and did better than we set ourselves as a goal; we still want to reduce it:PNRR E GREEN DEAL
But “the most beautiful number” is another: “despite the crisis and the problems that occurred in 20202 we have kept our workforce, and we have even grown by 350 resources”. The contribution to the country is also measured on this, which now also passes through the channels of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Leonardo’s initiatives concern monitoring, digitalisation of the public administration, logistics and the contribution of Space to the Green deal. “We are particularly involved” in the establishment of a National Strategic Pole (Psn) for the digital infrastructures of the Public Administration; “We have a constant dialogue with the operators and with the CDP”. To Leonardo “we are sure we can give an important added value in the service component: we need to work not only on the issues of housing and hosting,LE PARTNERSHIP
On these issues there are numerous agreements signed by Leonardo in recent months. The most recent concerns the agreement with Tinexta, an Italian company specializing in cyber-security and digital trust, to collaborate in supporting the digitization of national industrial processes and reduce the risk of cyber attacks. In May, the agreement with Microsoft for the digital transformation of the Public Administration arrived, anticipated by the agreement with Ericsson on 5G and the partnership with Aruba on the cloud. Profumo recalled the April agreement for the “first national digital health security infrastructure with cloud architecture”, the result of the agreement between Leonardo and Dompe. Already operational, the infrastructure integrates the capabilities of Leonardo’s super-computer and those of Dompe’s Exscalate library, which boasts over five billion digitally synthesized molecules. The result is the offer of solutions to improve the efficiency of health facilities and the planning of interventions in cases of pandemic emergency.
