Mgi Italia is born: Italian-British joint venture for high-tech drones in the Motor Valley

A collaboration between the UK and Italia in one of the most sensitive and 'topical' areas of defence, that of drones. A synergy that leverages the unique, globally recognised experience that Italia has gained in the production of car and motorbike engines. On Thursday 4 June, a new company, MGI Italia, born from the joint venture between a British company, MGI Engineering Ltd, and an Italian company, Vigilar Group Spa, was presented in Rome at Villa Wolkonsky, the official residence of the British ambassador to Italia.

The former is an Oxfordshire-based engineering company specialising in high-performance systems engineering in the aerospace, defence and automotive sectors. The second operates in the intelligence, security and advanced services sectors. 'We believe this partnership represents an important step towards building a stronger innovation ecosystem and establishing Italia as a strategic hub for future technological and industrial development,' notes Francesco Castro, CEO of Vigilar Group.

The headquarters of the new company are in Modena, a city that together with Bologna constitutes the heart of "Motor Valley", the industrial district of Emilia-Romagna, located along the Via Emilia and internationally famous for its high concentration of legendary car and motorbike manufacturers. A history that Mike Gascoyne, CEO and founder of MGI Engineering, a former Formula One technical director (he was in charge of aerodynamics at McLaren and designer at Tyrrell and Sauber) knows well. 'I have 30 years of experience in that sector,' he stresses. 'Italia has an extraordinary engineering heritage and a globally respected reputation for innovation, precision and performance. I am thinking of brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini. The partnership with Vigilar Group is an exciting step forward for MGI as we expand our presence in Europe and build new long-term industrial capabilities together. This partnership," adds Gascoyne, "combines shared values of engineering excellence, advanced manufacturing, and delivery of world-class solutions on a large scale. The focus is on developing advanced solutions for defence, security, aerospace and other high value-added sectors.

Obtaining detailed information is not easy. 'The nature of some of the products means that we cannot disclose information that our customers might consider sensitive,' the manager explains. The economic investment behind the project? "It is fairly confidential information." However, Gascoyne observes, 'what can be said is that the support Ukraine enjoys from both Italia and the UK will definitely be an area where we can cooperate, where we already have discussions in place'. "And then there is a discourse of renewal of the whole defence industry, not only the Italian one, which we mainly address, but also European and NATO. This,' Gascoyne observes, 'means that there is an expectation at regime of about 200 pieces per month of product. We are talking about half a million euros per piece, more or less. All the pieces will be produced by MGI Italia,' he says.

"Recruitment has already started, at the moment targeted," the British manager continues, "because at the beginning we need very qualified technicians, as we have to put together a high-tech production. We have had very good feedback, and identified the figures we are looking for. Engineers, but not necessarily only them, also qualified technicians who can handle certain materials. This will be the first group to do assembly. Later more people will be involved. But there will also be the opportunity to develop an induced activity with the industries already operating in the Modena district. The drone market is a bit like motor racing. 'In Formula 1 every fortnight there is a race,' Gascoyne concludes, 'and every fortnight everyone brings something new. You have to be ready on Sunday at two o'clock when the race starts. This mentality will also be carried over to our production.