Aerospace Made in Piedmont focuses on industrial alliances

Industrial expertise in a sector, aerospace, which is looked at with great interest, also in the light of the international situation and the centrality of Defence. The new president of Dap, the Piedmont Aerospace District, Maurizio De Mitri, who succeeds Fulvia Quagliotti, is well aware of this. He has years of work at Leonardo behind him and is now at the helm of an organisation that has grown in recent years and has deep industrial roots. "It is a special moment that we are going through,' explains De Mitri, 'which requires a District that is attentive to the current scenario and future prospects and that is close to the industrial world, SMEs and start-ups, and to the realities of research and education, to make a contribution so that new opportunities can be seized.

The challenge for Piedmontese companies in the sector, which boasts a historical industrial vocation in Defence, in the aeronautical sector, with the presence of Leonardo, Avio Aero and Collins, and in Space thanks to Thales Alenia Space and Altec, alongside a number of emerging realities such as Argotec, is to create critical mass. "I believe there must be a horizontal dialogue between companies, transversal, ranging from Defence to Civil to Space, and that an osmosis must be developed between the sectors. I am working in this direction,' explains President De Mitri. The Aerospace & Defence Meetings in Turin in December (see article opposite, ed.) is an example of this interaction. 'My idea is to promote and support a permanent exchange between companies operating in the sector, even beyond this event, as a real operational table. An approach that complements the vertical dialogue, between SMEs and the big players in the supply chain. The mapping of the companies operating in Piedmont, with skills, allocated resources and know-how, represents the starting point of a work that will take this snapshot as a starting point, in order to transform it into a real working platform, where companies can dialogue, find AI-driven tools to cross-fertilise industrial skills, production strands, and needs. "The idea is to build a space that does not simply contain an advertisement of individual companies," explains De Mitri, "but that can stimulate a concrete exchange and encourage, above all, the intersection between supply, at all levels, and demand on the part of companies.

The district has grown, aggregated numerous realities, and today has 99 member companies - a number that has doubled in recent years - with some fifteen companies waiting to join, and a turnover estimated at seven billion. 'After growth and consolidation of numbers, we need to work on interaction,' explains the president, 'to encourage the dimensional growth of companies and the development of the sector through new business opportunities. Exchange and dialogue activities must also be promoted with respect to other Italian districts, to encourage the pooling of skills and needs. 'It is also important to me,' he adds, 'that the Piedmontese district can talk to France, Germany and international players in general.

On the subject of the reconversion of part of Piedmont's industry, the district president sets out points and objectives: 'Aerospace and defence will never be able to take the place of automotive,' he emphasises, 'but industrial skills can be leveraged to diversify. The district for its part, he adds, 'will be able to offer companies training packages to support reconversion, the process must be started and managed. He looks with great interest at the future Aerospace City Di Mitri. 'It is fundamental for Turin and Piedmont,' he admits, 'it is a complex and articulated intervention, which contains a dozen different projects, the activities have been started and by the end of the year we will be able to see the first elements of the Aerospace City. Coordination and integration is essential at this point, and the District will be able to make its contribution'.