Innovation is in the DNA of Aetna Group, which from the very beginning has looked to research as the only way to keep evolving and guaranteeing the best packaging technologies and, at the same time, the highest performance in terms of process efficiency and production optimization. Thanks to an approach that believes in innovation linked to the territory, its resources and excellence, the companies of the Group have generated a technological value that is appreciated and recognized all over the world.

The constant relationship with startups, universities, research institutes, consultants and non-competing companies has allowed the Group to launch new products and renew processes according to a model of innovation, which seeks to include an outsider point of view of the company, drawing on specialist skills and transversal resources from other sectors, in order to create joint actions and greater competitiveness. This is the case of IoT (Internet of Things) and Digital Twin solutions introduced as viable models capable of producing advanced production performance, optimizing resources and ensuring significant energy and material savings. 


Placing at the centre of its strategies a model of open innovation, capable of creating new opportunities and enhancing interdisciplinary research, is one of the main objectives of the Corporate that pursues them in line with the initiatives promoted by the Emilia-Romagna Region and with the support of the High Technology Network laboratories in the area. 


The Open Innovation approach, which in recent years has seen Aetna Group as the protagonist of many initiatives focused on the development of knowledge, innovation, attractiveness and internationalization of the local system. 

Examples of particular interest this year were Matcher 2021, Talents for Open Innovation and It-ER INTERNATIONAL TALENTS EMILIA-ROMAGNA. The first with a path framed within the Green Deal and focused on the identification of startups engaged in the search for sustainable materials for packaging, the second aimed at involving young talents on real business challenges in the organizational and transition to business models 4.0 based on big data and the third related to the development of tools for skills matching for the international attraction of skills.  


In addition to these ongoing activities, the Group has also been selected by ART-ER (Attractiveness Research Territory) to participate in the Open Innovation Scouting, a path designed to encourage the emergence of ideas with high innovative content and facilitate the start of collaborations for industrial development. Ten companies have been selected for their evolutionary capacity and responsiveness to change. Between September and December, they will be called to participate in this new research laboratory for large companies with registered offices and/or operations in Emilia-Romagna.


Innovation for technology transfer is the theme of this training course that intends to bring together companies and research centers, with the aim of creating value from the encounter between different action models and professional figures. The workshop will see the participation of the High Technology Network and will be structured in two phases: a first moment defined as divergent, in which the laboratories will present the most innovative technologies designed for companies, with the aim of stimulating the production of ideas and positions. The second part, on the other hand, will aim to converge and select ideas, deepening and developing concepts in view of a possible industrial development. These phases then will be inserted into a follow-up between the company and industrial research laboratories, which will have as its purpose to discuss in detail the technical feasibility of the technology transfer paths that have emerged.


To take full advantage of this opportunity, Aetna Group team will be composed of a variety of professional figures representative of the business areas of interest, who will assess the feasibility and potential benefits of technological applications made available by the laboratories. 


An opportunity to confirm once again Aetna Group's commitment to Open Innovation as a Corporate of reference, the only company involved in all regional initiatives underway on the subject, which also participates in projects that extend to national and European level. 

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