Milan, 4 April 2017 – The Lombardy Energy and Environment Cluster (LE2C) met today in an Assembly to renew its governance and discuss innovation. The assembly marked a generational change in the cluster's leadership. Gian Angelo Mainini, President of LE2C since 2015, has passed the baton to 34-year-old Bocconi graduate Luca Donelli.

In addition to the change in presidency, LE2C unanimously elected its new Board of Directors. The new Board is even more comprehensive, consisting of 14 companies from the Energy and Cleantech sector, 4 major research centres – Politecnico di Milano, CNR, the University of Milano-Bicocca, and RSE – and the largest regional industrial association: Assolombarda Confindustria Milano Monza e Brianza.

Entrepreneur Mainini, owner of Elettromeccanica Colombo, former Mayor of Inveruno and past President of Confindustria Alto Milanese, has worked to strengthen the Cluster's activities, benefiting SMEs by supporting internationalisation and innovation.

“At the beginning of my mandate, LE2C received the highest European recognition for excellent management with the GOLD Label, the first cluster in Italy to do so. Today, LE2C represents a solid and internationally accredited cluster”. “I am handing over to the new Board of Directors and the new President - concludes Mainini - a now mature cluster that has all the capabilities to be an essential engine of innovation for companies facing globalisation and Industry 4.0.

The new President of LE2C, Luca Donelli, an entrepreneur and head of business development at Donelli Alexo, was voted in unanimously by the new Board of Directors. "I would like to thank the Cluster's members and directors for their trust, and President Mainini for his commitment and passion. I am taking on this role together with my Vice President, Besseghini, and the new Board, with the task of continuing to foster collaboration between companies and research, both within the Cluster and with our partners, promoting international growth initiatives and making our contribution to the Lombardy Region and the European Commission more impactful. We possess academic expertise and manufacturing excellence within our ranks, and it is an honour for me to represent them and work to enhance them. I am certain that together we will be able to respond to some of the crucial challenges regarding sustainability and energy efficiency that are currently being discussed at the B7 and G7 Energy meetings in Rome."

The assembly continued with a round table: “Energy 2030 - Getting to know each other, collaborating and networking” where the LE2C Cluster can assume a key role in the regional, national and European landscape. “The Cluster is a tool with high potential,” comments Stefano Besseghini, Vice President of the Cluster and President of RSE – “LE2C must take on the role of promoter of policies to support development and innovation, first and foremost to the regional government, but also by influencing national and European policies”. “LE2C has the ability to network industrial entities and the world of research,” continues Stefano Besseghini, “to develop growth projects by providing the industrial sector with tools and processes (where they do not already possess them) to support them”.

The morning concluded with Luca Del Gobbo, Regional Minister for Universities, Research and Open Innovation, Lombardy Region – a supporter of the 9 Lombardy Technological Clusters for the development of the regional Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), with whom he has established an excellent collaboration since the beginning of his mandate, involving the clusters and LE2C in various working groups related to research and innovation.

The Lombardy Region supports the clusters with funding dedicated to their consolidation, and within the Research Agreements call it has recently selected 51 projects that will be able to access the 'negotiation' phase and potentially obtain a maximum grant of 4.5 million euros to move from the study phase to actual implementation. “These projects will have a concrete impact on the lives of citizens,” comments Regional Minister Del Gobbo. Of the projects submitted, 10 are related to the S3 for Eco-industry, which encompasses energy and environmental themes.

The Lombardy Region has placed itself at the forefront with the adoption of Law no. 29 of 23 November 2016 “LOMBARDIA E’RICERCA”, which explicitly aims to prevent and curb the brain drain abroad and facilitate innovation.

The day continued in the afternoon with 49 B2B meetings involving 24 companies and 6 research centres to collaborate and create joint development projects. In parallel, 10 registered companies took advantage of the Europe Desk, a service provided by the Enterprise Europe Network to offer free advice on European calls for proposals and to search for partners for project or business collaborations with the support of Confindustria Lombardia.

Attachments

• Cs_Assemblea2017LE2C_4aprile2017.pdf