CiCrespi Engineering, Sia-Ssb, Miflex2, and Arvato Mobile were accorded recognition this morning by SDA Bocconi School of Management in connection with the Best Innovation Award, a scheme now being run for the second time.
The Best Innovation Award is a distinction conferred by benchmarking 5,000 Italian firms invited to take part in the procedure. It involves an analysis of data from a questionnaire based on a theoretical model developed in the Operations and Technology Management Unit of SDA Bocconi School of Management. The model gauges excellence in innovative capacity through an assessment of the “gel” between decisions that determine strategic approach, organizational structure, operational methods, and investment in technology. Recognition is accorded to the firm able to show that, through a coherent innovation policy of this kind, its economic and financial performance has likewise been excellent.
The Award, as such, goes to firms displaying all-round excellence. Undertakings that demonstrate superiority that instead focuses specifically on one or more aspects relevant to the above methodology earn a Special Mention. On that basis the distinctions below were accorded.

Best Innovation Award to CiCrespi Engineering. CiCrespi Engineering, part of the CiCrespi Group, designs, produces, integrates, and provides assistance with systems for identifying, tracing, and ensuring the safety of products and packages in the food and non-food sectors. It qualified for the award on the strength of its innovation processes and the impact they had on the results of the firm as well as on those of the group at large. In addition, it was successful in slotting in with the CiCrespi Group strategy, while its pursuit of industrial integration set it apart from the mainstream trend towards outsourcing manufacturing. This strategic choice effectively transformed the firm from a mere “distributor” into a “production and commercial system” able to offer a comprehensive and integrated service.

Best Innovation Award - Special Mention to Miflex2. Miflex2 designs, produces, and distributes flexing hosing for civil and industrial applications. The development and growth of the firm over the last decade have been driven by a sustained and systematic search for new materials and new technological procedures. The superior performance of its products resulted into a competitive edge, enabling the firm to establish leadership in a number of market niches and, subsequently, to seek out new applications for its technological skills and to extend those skills farther. A propensity for innovation is part of the Miflex2 ethos and permeates the entire firm, from the owners down to its factory-floor operatives. The Mention is also intended as a spur to press ahead with the innovation already started and with adding to its managerial skills.

Best Innovation Award - Software and ICT Services to Sia- Ssb. Sia-Ssb, formed in 2007 through a merger between Sia (Società interbancaria per l’automazione) and Ssb (Società per i servizi bancari), is a technology provider at the service of the international financial system. Sia-Ssb operates Europe-wide and worldwide in the areas of debit and credit card processing, payment systems, capital markets, and network services for connectivity and messaging. The award in the “Software and ICT Service”category was presented to the Capital Markets Division of Sia-Ssb for its proactive approach to the market, namely its ability to intuit trends and needs in international financial markets ahead of their emergence and meet them with new applications solutions and functions suited to a vast portfolio customer segments. Sia-Ssb was able to match this superior market prescience with a high degree of openness in its development process for new applications and Ict services, as evidenced by its collaborative arrangements with customers, financial institutions, research centres, and trade associations. This process is a feature extending all the way through the creation, launch, and steady improvement of all the technological solutions it develops. Thanks to the levers described, bolstered by organisation mechanisms and innovation-project management tools, Sia-Ssb can delivery an excellent performance in terms of creating new market areas and plugging gaps associated with emerging needs.

Best Innovation Award - Special Mention for Software and ICT Services goes to Arvato Mobile. Arvato Mobile is Digital Media company that produces and distributes digital content and services for fixed and mobile telephone operators, Internet Service Providers, Web and Ip-tv, as well as television and video-clip formats. The company forms part of the Bertelsmann group, and contributes to the group’s range in the media and entertainment sector through worldwide operation. It earns a Special Mention through its strategy of incremental innovation. Arvato Mobile generates over half of its annual turnover by marketing new products and services. As an operator in digital entertainment, with its high technological obsolescence and extremely dynamic pace, Arvato Mobile is at all times committed to investing most of its resources in the development of new products and services. The flexibility needed to operate in this environment is guaranteed by a slim organization that is strongly responsive to input from the end market into its design and development of new digital content for multi-platform delivery - content, that is, that must be of use to different media forms in accordance with different methods. This strategy-structure link enables Arvato Mobile to cater for various usage needs associated with the products and services it creates and ensures its appeal to a broad market of distributors and content providers. A fillip to its readiness to innovate is the strong empathy of its personnel in new- product/service development, who identify closely with the end users targeted by Arvato Mobile. The Mention is intended to provide impetus and encouragement to ongoing improvements to management practice as well as to innovation-management mechanisms.