In an age of significant transformation, large companies know that research and technological and digital innovation are essential resources for tackling the challenges they face, especially in a key sector such as energy, but it is also essential to find new approaches so that these resources produce the desired results.
As far back as 2003, the economist Henry Chesbrough noted that closed innovation, i.e. the development of new technologies within a closed business environment, was not a winning formula. This method proved unsuitable to respond to the current need for technological development, so Chesbrough proposed the opposite strategy: open innovation.
This approach involves a more open attitude towards stimuli from outside the individual company. They often come from young, successful start-ups or from leading universities, research institutes, suppliers, developers, programmers and consultants, who offer their knowledge and methodologies for a constructive dialogue with companies.
This creates a vibrant research environment in which the experience of the various players contributes to the development of projects that can lead to a spillover, a growth that generates positive spin-offs beyond its scope of action.
Within this dynamic, companies connect the resources of their teams with those of the most attractive national and international companies to transform innovative ideas into cutting-edge solutions. This also triggers a positive process that favours the growth of a country's entire social and economic system.
The case of Eni is an example of this.
