What creativity and innovation mean for a business

"The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size" - Albert Einstein

On 21 April 2018, the first World Creativity and Innovation Day will be celebrated. Italy is world-famous for its creativity, which spans over all industries, from automotive to fashion, from interior design to food.

In the last few years, steps have been taken to foster innovation by supporting the creation and development of start-ups and innovative enterprises, with the introduction of specific tax and financial incentives. This is the case of innovative SMEs, whose number is constantly increasing: in a few months, the number of innovative enterprises registered with the Ministry of Economic Development grew from 694 on 30 November 2017 to 765 on 16 April 2018.

On the occasion of the World Creativity and Innovation Day, we asked the three winners and the finalists of the first edition of the Open Innovative PMI award, devised by Bernoni Grant Thornton:

What do creativity and innovation mean for your business?

Here are their views:

BrainSigns Srl (winner in the category Research and Technology): "Creativity for BrainSigns is an unrestrainable inclination to conceive new ideas starting from sound scientific rigour, bold wide views and a passionate dynamic and multidisciplinary team. This mix allows our company to remain in the field of innovation and to take on the challenging path to bring our products to market." (Adriana Trettel, Director)

Ecofly Srl (winner in the category SMEs and women): "It is not always easy for a business doing something completely different to finance studies and researches on the huge number of innovations proposed by our technical department; In any case, as soon as we manage to find the funds needed to undertake a new project, we promote first of all a feasibility study and when the outcome is positive, we proceed with a patent filing and from an operational point of view in order to obtain a functioning prototype.

The time needed to get to these results is always linked to the speed with which the funds necessary to complete the programme are found." (Rodolfo de Vita, Director)

Viscount International Spa (winner in the category European and foreign markets): "In designing new electronic musical instruments, the creativity of our business expresses itself in a delicate balance between technical and musical skills. For over 100 years innovation has been matching with passion through the research of original mechanical, hardware and software solutions aimed at finding the “perfect sound”."(Loriana Galanti, Sole Director)

Wise Srl (finalist in the category Research and Technology): "Innovation has been at the heart of Wise since even before its own creation, as it was incorporated to bring an idea from the lab to the market. Wise is an innovative SME that develops a new generation of implantable leads for neuromodulation and neuromonitoring through a proprietary innovative technology. Our daily challenge is that of matching creativity and originality with rigour and standardisation, essential factors to successfully arrive at the manufacturing and marketing stages, in such a regulated and monitored industry as that of medical devices."