Our founders

Position in the Company: CEO and founder of INNOVA

Educational Background:

Aleardo Furlani holds a Degree in Law with major in Economics from the University of Naples (ITALY) and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (I.E.S.E.), Barcelona (Spain). In 1989 he was a Public Policy scholar at the J.F. Kennedy School of Government Boston, USA (Harvard University).

Professional experience:

Expert in innovation financing, international marketing and business strategies, he is strongly involved in the R&D activities conducted with highly qualified European companies and Universities. He acquired a strong expertise in Technology Transfer activities, encouraging the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in European R&D programmes and has acquired extensive expertise in panels for RIS-RITTS and regional innovation plan assessment and improvement.

He is an active member of the INSME Board, the International Network for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. INSME’s mission is to stimulate trans-national cooperation and public and private partnership in the field of innovation and technology transfer.

From 2006 to 2010 he has been involved in the coordination of the European Commission INNO Learning Platform promoting trans-national Innovation policy cooperation .

From 2000 to 2008 he carried out the training and technical assistance activities for the network of Innovation Relay Centres and coordinating Regional Innovation Centres consisting of the 71 most important Technology Transfer and Innovation centres in Europe.

From 2005 to 2012  he has been the team leader of the European Investment Bank (EIB)  technical assistance project in Tunisia aimed at the set-up of 5 Technology Parks located in  Bizerte, Monastir, Sidi Thabet, Sfax and Sousse. From 2010 to 2012 he has led the team of experts for the European Investment Bank (EIB)  technical assistance project for capacity-building activities of the Moroccan Network of incubators.

He was also the Italian senior country correspondent for the European TrendChart on Innovation, the European network providing policy makers and managers with statistics, performances and trends on innovation policies measures in the 39 countries.

He has been author and co-author of  a number of publications, among others: “Plan and manage a Science Mark in the Mediterranean”, a Guidebook for decision makers, published by the European Investment Bank and the World Bank (2010); “Reinventing the IRC Network through Benchmarking” (2006);”Benchmarking the search for IRCs effective marketing practices” (2003 and 2004).

In 2012, he co-authored a book on “Social networks: the new innovation protagonists, a guidebook for italian companies”.

He has recently published a new manual on  social medias entitled “The Liquid Corporation: The social media-based “liquid” organizations: open to learning and fluid in sharing”.

Position in the Company: Co-founder and Director of INNOVA

Educational Background:

Antonella Vulcano has a degree in Economics from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and a Master in Foreign Trade awarded by the ‘Istituto per il Commercio Estero’, I.C.E. (Italian Trade Commission)

Professional experience:

She has a consolidated experience in performing activities related to economic market studies, benchmarking analyses and innovation strategies assessment.

Her areas of expertise range from benchmarking studies to economic analyses, innovation policies assessment, best practices identification and transfer, innovation consulting for companies and regional institutions.

From 2010 to 2012, she coordinated the Progr-EAST project aimed at promoting the take-up of Pre-Commercial Public Procurement  in Eastern European countries.

From 2000 to 2008, she was involved in technical assistance activities for a benchmarking exercise and training sessions for the network of Innovation Relay Centres (IRCs), one of the largest European networks in charge of innovation and technology transfer.

From 2004 to 2008, she was part of the team that manages the Innovative Regions in Europe Secretariat that aimed to facilitate the exchange and the valorisation of regional experiences and innovation practices.

For over 4 years she contributed, as Italian Correspondent, to the Trend Chart on Innovation Report, analysing and assessing Italian policies and governance.

She is co-author of the following publications: “Practical manual on Pre-Commercial procurment” (2012); “Promoting the benefits of greater knowledge and effective management of IP in European SMEs & Intermediaries” (2011); ”Benchmarking the search for IRCs effective marketing practices” (2003 and 2004 editions), “Best practices, a benchmarking exercise to improve the National Contact Point services” (2006).

Position in the Company: Co-founder and Senior consultant of INNOVA till 2000 and presently General Manager of LABOR (a private applied research laboratory, member of the INNOVA group)

Educational Background:

Alfredo Picano holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy) with a specialization in transport mechanics.

Professional experience:

As General Manager of LABOR, he has acquired a long-standing experience in industrial research activities, more specifically in the fields of electronics and industrial automation, technologies and processes of the chemical industry and renewable energies.

As a senior consultant and partner of INNOVA, he has gained a consolidated experience as a technical consultant in the fields of energy and environment, in industrial processing and new materials, in technology transfer projects and in information technologies.

Since 1993, he is chair of “Traction Systems II” at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” where his main activities consist in intervening in seminars, research and drafting of students’ exams books.

Position in the Company: Co-founder and senior consultant of INNOVA till 2001 and presently Chair of CYBION (a company in on-line business intelligence, member of the INNOVA group).

Educational Background:

Rina Angeletti holds a degree in political sciences with a specialization in international law from the University “La Sapienza” in Rome (Italy) and a Master in Foreign Trade awarded by the ‘Istituto per il Commercio Estero’, I.C.E. (Italian Trade Commission).

Professional experience:

As a senior consultant of INNOVA, she has a long standing experience in managing European funded projects and gained a solid expertise in Community law and European financial programmes. She also carried out a number of review exercises for the European Commission services.

As a senior consultant of CYBION, she has a long standing experience in the management of research and development activities in the software field for institutional customers and for small and medium sized Italian and European companies. Her considerable experience in project management has enabled her to acquire an extensive knowledge of the Italian entrepreneurial requirements.

Position in the Company: Co-founder and senior consultant of INNOVA and Managing Director of CAMPUS CONSULTING (a consultancy company in business and innovation strategies for SMEs specialised in management engineering and information technology, member of the INNOVA group)

Educational Background:

Giulio Ravizza holds a degree in Electronic Engineering from the University “La Sapienza” in Rome (Italy).

Professional experience:

From 2001 to 2005, he was head of the Research Department of INNOVA and was directly responsible for technical assistance to private companies and universities for the development of research projects promoted within national and regional projects and for project management and result valorisation of projects financed by national and international programmes. He also conveyed a number of training sessions on innovation and technology transfer and financing opportunities for SMEs.

As a Partner in Campus, part of the INNOVA Group, he carries out consultation activities for companies related to technological auditing and design of innovative organisational strategies to enhance the competitive and strategic re-positioning of the client companies.

Position in the Company: Co-founder and Senior consultant of INNOVA, partner and Director of LABOR (the applied research and engineering laboratory of the INNOVA GROUP)

Educational Background:

Giorgio Recine holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy) with a specialization in plant design.

Professional experience:

Senior technical consultant for INNOVA, he actively collaborates in technology transfer actions, assessment and evaluation of RTD projects as well as valorisation of R&D project results activities, technology auditing and support activities towards SMEs for their participation in European research programmes. He has also participated in the coordination and management of a number of European projects.

Since 2001 he is Head of the Department of Renewable Energies of Labor Srl, part of the INNOVA Group. He has been Coordinator of several European Projects in the energy sector, technical-scientific analysis and promotion of technology transfer activities, research results exploitation strategies.

Position in the Company: Co-founder and Senior consultant of INNOVA, presently partner and Italian representative of INVENT (the seed capital support company of the INNOVA GROUP)

Educational Background:

Antonio Zangrilli holds a degree in Economics from the University “La Sapienza” in Rome (Italy). He also has a post-graduate degree in Export Management from the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (I.C.E., Rome, -Italy).

Professional experience:

He has gained extensive expertise in benchmarking studies on innovation strategies at European level, in market studies and business plan development for innovative start-ups.
His experience also extends to R&D projects’ promotion and management as well as high-technology university spin-offs deployment emerging from national/international research.
He is also Head of the Italian office of INVENT, the seed capital company of the INNOVA GROUP and is, since 2004, member of the Board of Directors of an Italian Bank in the Lazio Region.