BAIAblog

A Call for Energetic Optimism

Today, and in the months ahead, we must think and act with keen optimism and determination.

While I was traveling back home during the holidays, in my native Torino – which is also the 2008 World Design Capital – I witnessed the usual warmth and cheerfulness of familiar faces in an atmosphere fueled by the holiday spirit.

At the same time, I had the chance to browse through some of that more casual and disparate holiday reading material, ranging from the history book found at home, to the arts catalogs in the bookstore of the Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art to some mundane magazines which tend to materialize in your laps at the airport or at the hair dresser’s. Among tales of beauty, technology gadgets (I especially like the 500-shaped USB I received from my Dad), and daily happenings, a common theme was surfacing across the press:  the need for optimism.

Usually, when a state of mind is summoned by multiple parties, it means there has been a lack of it, or lackluster presence at least.  So I sniffed around for supporting data.

An article I came across in one of my “holiday magazines”, (A) by Giancarlo Bruno, manager of Banking and Capital Marketing for the World Economic Forum, was reporting data about Italy’s classification among the world economies, based on overall competitiveness (World Economic Forum competitiveness index). The current ranking: 46; down from 42 and 38 in the previous years.  By digging in a little deeper, it shows business competitiveness (ranking: 42) is more favorable in terms of “Sophistication of company operations and strategy”(32) rather than “Quality of the national business environment” (45) (link).

Given that Italy should be among the top five or six world economies, a 46th overall place sounds very much like the C series.  Or, with a different cultural metaphor, if you are an A student it is a shame to get anything less than a B, just because you can so easily do better. Two years ago, I attended a business breakfast where an economist from BNP Paribas stated: “Italy is dying” (he also mentioned oil prices were not going to rise ...). At the end of the presentation I raised my proud Italian hand and clarified that, thank you for the concern, but Italy was alive and well, despite aggressive competition in certain sectors, from high-growth emerging economies.  A few weeks later I flew to Torino to witness first-hand the sparkling beauty of the Olympic Torch and the rebirth on the world stage of the first capitol of Italy.  My country still looked very much alive.  Today we should not be in 46th place and, most important, we should be competitive, jostling for the top 5, top 10 positions.  Not for sake of the ranking per se, but because that’s a sign of the dreams, work and achievements that lie beneath the digits.  Hence my urge to blog on the topic.

Two weeks ago a business delegation with the Partnership for Growth program, accompanied by US Ambassador Ronald Spogli, visited the Bay Area.  There was much enthusiasm and no shortness of energy among the Italian visitors, eager to absorb information and to interact constructively, to build on their ideas.  Matteo Fabiano of BAIA opened his introductory note on BAIA, during a lunch session at Stanford (sponsored by YourTrumanShow), exactly on the topic of optimism, and on how it pervades the business climate of Silicon Valley. It was nice to see the light shining in the eyes of the audience, they grasped the message!

So, let’s capitalize on our talent, passion for quality, business acumen and scientific skills, to invigorate our country’s competitiveness and to keep our ability to dream alive. Dreams become reality when you believe in them and work hard toward their achievement. Optimism is not just a word, but the positive attitude and energetic drive required to move forward in spite of temporary obstacles and challenging circumstances.

Lucia Panini

An Interview with Gino Ferretti, President of the University of Parma

Gino Ferretti is the President (Rettore) of the University of Parma (Università degli Studi di Parma) in Italy. Parma is a very interesting  city, not only for its incredible cultural and historical heritage, but also its gastronomic tradition which brought us such products as Parmigiano-Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma. Thanks to a flourishing and technologically advanced food industry, it has become known as the Food Valley, an obvious reference to the Silicon Valley. By many Italians the city is considered a live laboratory experimenting different combinations of tradition and innovation. From his position at the University of Parma, Gino Ferretti is the person that can marry the incredibly rich food traditions of Parma with the business opportunities and challenges created by the global market and economy. Having known Gino Ferretti for more than 15 years, I asked him to share his ideas on how to bridge the Silicon Valley business models with the Food Valley food traditions.

Professor Ferretti, can you tell us a bit about yourself and the University of Parma?

The origins of the University of Parma go back more than one thousand years. While the original constitutive document has been lost, we still have an ordinance of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I dating back to 964 AD authorizing the Bishop of Parma to institute a Law School. We have records of scholars active in the city in the following centuries, but it was only in 1406 that a document was drafted stating a "re-foundation" of the University as an institution independent from the local bishop.
Today 1,100 teachers and a total of 1,100 technicians and administrative employees work for the University of Parma. We have about 30,000 students spread over 12 Faculties: Law, Literature, Economy, Political Sciences, Psychology, Medicine, Pharmacology, Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture, Science, Architecture, and Engineering.
According to our data, 48% of out students come from outside of the Emilia-Romagna region, while only 33% come from the city and province of Parma.
Answering the question about myself: I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bologna. In my career I taught at several universities including Bologna, Padova, Trento, and, for the last 20 years, Parma. I have been in charge of the Reggio-Emilia public transportation company as President for about 2 years. After holding the title of Director of the Department of Industrial Engineering for six years, I have been elected Dean of the Engineering Faculty for 2 years. I've been the President (Rettore) of the University of Parma since the 2000 and thanks to the favorable results of the recent elections, I will be in charge until 2011.

According to Ignazio Marino, President of the Italian Senate's Health Commission, Italy is second only to India in the phenomenon known as fuga di cervelli or “brain drain”. This suggests that while Italian universities produce competitive young researchers and engineers, the Italian business and economic environment does not attract them. What’s your opinion?

The quoted statement is absolutely correct. This is mostly the result of a political crisis that dates back to the seventies. The social and economic differences between the diverse parts of Italy and the enduring political and ideological conflicts make governing our country a very difficult task. The instability of the government creates a difficult situation for enterprises and entrepreneurs with the result of slowing down economic development. Despite these problems Italy's scientific production, when considering the funding and the resources available to researchers, is at a very high level. What has been missing is a strong and consistent commitment of the central administration that has instead favored other sectors pursuing an easier and faster popular consensus.

The region of Parma is known as the “Food Valley” (an obvious reference to the Silicon Valley). Which parts of the economic model of the Food Valley could be adopted here in the US, and which aspects of the Silicon Valley economic model would be beneficial in the Food Valley?

The province of Parma and its region have historically been among the wealthiest and more productive agricultural areas in Europe. This richness brought us high quality products, stimulated a flourishing local food industry, and therefore supports a network of companies producing machines and plants for food processing. We are talking about small and medium companies making high quality products, and structurally unable to compete at the price level. Their products, coming from the rich local tradition, have specific features that were intended for a market and consumers that don't exist anymore. The current effort is to evolve those products that were not designed for large distribution or for a global market, in order to adapt them to the new markets and to make them more competitive. We are working on technologies, packaging, logistics, and branding. For these reasons our local business model is significantly different from the one used in Silicon Valley. We share the need for continuous innovation in order to sustain our economic growth.

Market globalization is a huge opportunity for Parma to expand its economy on a planetary scale. What is the role of the University of Parma in this new scenario?

I believe that global competition forces the scientific research, the scientific institutions, and our "capability to innovate" into a central and strategic position. Therefore the University has an important role to play, both indirectly preparing people and directly collaborating with enterprises. For this reason we are currently working on a new scientific park to host spin-offs from the academia and research labs shared with outside business enterprises.

In 2004 Parma was appointed the seat of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). What is the University's relationship with the EFSA?

EFSA is an institution that works in the same way as a scientific institution. We have a contact group and together we organize conferences and seminars. Several of our labs at the University have been accredited to provide consultancies and support for the EFSA. We are creating with them a Media Center for scientific communication. We have also to consider that EFSA hasn't yet fully deployed all of its activities in Parma.

In recent years the University of Parma started programs to foster spin-offs and new businesses. What has been your experience so far, and what are your expectations for the future?

The Italian academic world is not yet used to mapping its knowledge into business opportunities, though the situation is quickly changing. Some of our most recent spin-offs are achieving great results as businesses and we are determined, as a University, to further develop this approach in the coming years.

Thanks to the Internet, several Italian entrepreneurs in California are starting to look at Italy as a viable source of a highly qualified and relatively inexpensive work force. How can an association like BAIA be more effective in establishing these kinds of reciprocally beneficial connections?

I don't know your association and the way you work well enough to give you a specific answer. The best way to start a collaboration could be to jointly approach a specific problem from the legal and technical point of view. For example, I see opportunities to work together on topics such as the legal aspects of the import/export of food products in Italy and California. The reference person for those topics is Barbara Panciroli (barbara.panciroli1@unipr.it), from our Technology Transfer Center.

I would like to thank Gino Ferretti for taking the time to speak with me today. If you have any questions for Prof. Ferretti or for BAIA, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer.

Franco Folini

An Interview with Daniele Girardi, an Italian Artist

Daniele Girardi is one of the most interesting young artists of the contemporary Italian art scene (website). In his works Daniele explores the fusion of different techniques, repeatedly converting manual work into digital form and vice versa, resulting in a highly sophisticated mosaic of images that contain all the precepts of paintings and have no spatial references. Daniele's works can be seen at the MM Galleries in San Francisco from April 19 to May 26 in an exhibition of mixed-media works entitled Extension of the Inner Landscape. Thanks to Silvia Girardi, BAIA members and friends will have the opportunity to meet Daniele in person on May 24 at the BAIA Investing in Art: the Italian Contemporary Renaissance event. I took advantage of Daniele's recent visit to San Francisco for the opening of the exhibition to ask him a few questions about his artistic activities. Here is the interview.

Daniele, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your artistic activities?
My path as an artist is a fairly common one; I first attended the art institute in my hometown, Verona, then later the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, which was almost a pretext to leave my small town. In Milan I found inspiration and great connections to pursue my career as a painter, as well as a rich dialogue with many artists, who later became companions along the journey. Anyway, in relation to my artistic education, I feel more as a student of life than of academic studies.

I read that artists “feel the pain of the world while seeing the beauty of the world.” In this world do you feel more pain or see more beauty?
It is known that suffering is a necessary step towards wisdom… a similar kind of labored gestation leads to the birth of art. However the feeling of suffering and the vision of beauty are not the unique prerogative leading to creation. I try to ‘survive’ the continuous stream between reality and vision to build my ‘chromocosmo’ (cosmos of colors) and transform… in color the inquietude of living.

In 2006 you were selected to be part of the ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) program in New York. How has this experience changed you and your relationship with America?
My recent time in New York has been an inspiring and significant experience. I had the chance to discover new realities, to meet artists from all over the world, and expand my creative horizon diving every day into the megalopolis. It has been a strong impact without compromises… such is the city itself! I looked and observed a lot, I have filled myself with images and sensations of the American culture, so that now only after a few months, I'm transforming those influences into a more fresh and global vision.

You combine digital and traditional techniques in a very interesting way. Can you tell us the reasons for this powerful hybrid combination?
Let's say I have never really worked with a single technique; I have always looked after the union of elements. I have always been intrigued by the alchemy resulting from the combination of different languages and materials. There is always a surprise when opposite elements react and lead you to a discovery of new paths. The nature of painting is at the root of digital image. I try to let these two languages live together in a single territory where both lose their own identities to create a shared one…  like apolide, an identity without a homeland. The hybrid form is continuously changing, as my works are, moving from one phase to the other to fix themselves on the canvas in a continuous ‘come-into-being’.

Your art pieces are fully enjoyable even to people that have never been exposed to art. It’s common for artists to put meaning, shock value, or a message before aesthetic appeal. Can art just be beautiful?
Art, as well as the world, needs positive images available to anyone. In order to create an open dialogue with the viewer, I try to have experimentation and therefore a message coexist with a poetic style and an aesthetic ideal. In a sense I would define my work as ‘pop’ because I transform everyday objects into a new dimension, and give them back to the fantasy world of the painting. My works that are apparently easy to absorb contain under the skin an imaginative world to be discovered and that often remains secret.

What is your relationship with your paintings? Do you try “stay in touch” with them after the sale, or do you let them go?
The relationship with my works reminds me of the relationship between a parent and a son; at a certain stage of his life the son will have to leave the family nest and find his own path to grow and explore the world. This is the way I see my works when I finish them and they are ready to leave -- I wish them to find a good place in other's eyes also.

I would like to thank Daniele Girardi for taking the time to speak with me today, and Silvia Girardi for helping me with coordinating the interview. If you have any questions for Daniele or for BAIA, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer.

Franco Folini

“Talk their Talk and Walk their walk”, a Comment on Cultural Differences

I’ve been working in the international business field, mainly in export of goods and services from EU countries, for about 10 years before relocating to the US and trying to play the game the opposite way around.

In the meantime the world became a global economy, effortlessly going from telex and fax, to e-mail and e-commerce. The operators of this economy are still humans; as such, they were not ‘upgraded’, they simply grew up, as you and I, in very distinct environments.

Besides the nuts and bolts of whatever business I have been in, I was primarily attracted to, and fascinated by, an aspect that goes everywhere in between being taken for granted, and completely ignored in every size business I know: social and business culture differences.

CommunicAid is an Anglo-French “leader in the field of bespoke language, cultural awareness and communication skills, training to the world’s leading corporate and public organizations“. Note that such company is successfully based out of two countries that really need it. Their very respectful opinion on Italian business culture starts saying that “Italian culture permeates every aspect of life and as a result, for those wishing to integrate effectively into Italian society or perhaps hoping to successfully break the Italian business market, an understanding of this culture is a vital tool.”

I knew immediately that it was worth sharing it when I noticed that they had a paragraph on Beppe Severgnini “Bella Figura”, described as the “ability to present oneself well and behave with an air of demure and formality [which] is a key element in Italian business culture“.

Now, BAIA, the business networking association for Italians and Americans interested in each other, is a US based organization as any else (only not-for-profit), that when addressing the international community, in this case Italian, shouldn’t, and really can’t forget those principles either. Having many of us Italian backgrounds, it may be easier, but we neither should take them for granted or completely ignore it.

Thus, when it comes to talk to our Italian counterparts, being them members, enthusiasts, or simply prospective networkers, we have to adapt our language, our ways, our presentation and partly, our message; always in an effort to remaining loyal to it and to ourselves.

So, maybe we can assume to be a little more versed for the game, but we too, as everybody else, have still to play it, and will probably be reminded that nothing worthy comes easy.

Giorgio Ghersi

The top 10 things Italians must do right to sell software in US

Generally speaking, Italy is not perceived as one of the best places for software development. Personally I disagree on that perception. I know that Italy has a rich pool of top quality software developers, highly qualified just as most US developers. Also, Italy has a small group of software manufacturers offering an incredible set of high quality products. Despite the basic ingredients for a global success, many Italian software companies are experiencing difficulties entering the International markets, specifically the US market.
Based on my experience as software reseller at Novedge, I listed the top 10 things Italian companies should do to have a chance to succeed in the US market.

1. Think big! The US market includes more than 300M people. They all speak one single language and they all share the same culture. It's a very big opportunity for your business.
   
2. Spread the word! This is a huge country, to reach your potential customers you will have to wisely but heavily invest in marketing. Let as many people as you can know that you are here and you have something for them. It's simple: no marketing, no business.
3. Speak English! Before approaching the American market, be sure you have a fantastic English version of your website, and a professionally written English documentation for all your products. Double check that all your products speak English perfectly! Also have your sales people and technical people prepared!
4. Keep it simple! Americans are used to a simple and fast purchase process. This is the country where you can go to a car dealer and leave in 15 minutes driving your brand new car! Americans expect the same level of service from you and your resellers. Expectations are even higher if your software costs less than a car. Forget USB keys, computer-IDs exchanged by e-mail! Always go for a simple software activation, avoid complex procedures and excessive piracy protection.
5. Adapt to the local culture! Always remember that you are coming here to sell, not to teach Italian style or to show how supposedly better the Italian way is. If you like Italy so much, stay over there. When selling in US, try to think and to act like an American. Blend in with the way Americans do business, and focus on excelling at what they feel is important.
6. Be local! Prospects and customers will expect you to have a local toll free number, and a local e-mail address (keep the .it domain for Italy, get a .com domain for the US). Be ready!
7. Be fast! Don't even think about shipping your products from Italy! If you want to sell in the US, you must ship from a US location. Immediately send tracking numbers to your customer or reseller. Shipping from the US will give you the opportunity to offer overnight shipping, a magic word that Americans love, along with a tracking number.
8. Always be nice! Americans are always very polite and nice. This is the country where the lady at the cash register always ask "How are you?" and the only possible answer is "Great!". She doesn't really care, she is just following a local tradition. Prepare your people to be courteous the same way all the time: when they answer the phone, they write e-mails or they send a fax. It really is important.
9. Be reliable! In this country Net 30 means 30 days, not one day more. People will pay you in a timely manner and they will expect you to do the same. If you like to establish good relationships with your suppliers and customers, play by the rules.
10. Follow up, follow up, and follow up again! In order to succeed always follow-up with everyone you do business with and keep each communication short and simple. Many people are used to receiving follow ups as reminders, and expect them. Without follow ups, very little happens.

This is a partial list based on my personal experience. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment, I will be glad to have a discussion and publish a version 2.0, including your feedback.

Franco Folini

The Business of Culture or the Culture of Business? (part1)

It has occurred to me in recent conversations during some BAIA events, and especially in the process of organizing our events, how every so often the term “business” carries for certain people, if not a straight out negative, at least a diminishing connotation compared to other supposedly higher ranked disciplines. Sometimes business practices and themes are not perceived as “cultural”, or not dignified as the ones related to the term (and I assume the discipline of) “economy” or “economic”.
I assume this perception may be shared by technology specialists, particularly when expressing themselves in scientific settings.
While I understand the need of some people to distinguish, for example, High Art from Low Art in an artistic context (even if I generally disagree with the distinction, particularly faded in the contemporary art scene), this assumption of highness annoys, distracts, and definitely looses meaning when comparing different subjects, from different knowledge branches.
Undressed from its presumption, the tongue-in-cheek comment, or the blunt downplaying of the business topic, appears for what it is: a comparison of apple and oranges.
Honestly, I don’t see how, for example, a lecture given by a popular journalist, who wrote a number of anecdotal books on the everyday differences of two populations can be more or less “cultural” than, say, a public round-table of field experts on the business opportunities and challenges offered by the mainstreaming of traditional and or regional customs like, for example, the Italian cooking traditions. Would the first be more cultural because it’s related to literature and the second only to business? I actually see a good business in that literature, but maybe it’s only me.
Aren’t we maybe thinking business as in “consumerism’, more than business as in “microeconomics”?

Giorgio Ghersi