"Think outside the box": the first rule of innovation

«What I like about my job is the opportunity to bounce around between different activities in the company, getting to know more about it and meeting the needs of my colleagues: in a single year, I’ve met and built valuable relationships with so many different people». Ezio Marinato, Innovation Expert, joined Terna's Innovation team a little over a year ago, where it’s not just relationships but also a solid background that’s come in useful. Innovation is always a challenge. Making it work, starting with convincing colleagues to try out new solutions, takes effort, an ability to listen, analytical skills, and a willingness not to give up at the earliest hurdles. That means you also need to have enormous enthusiasm and curiosity to foster «resilience and flexibility».

In order to innovate, it’s necessary to learn how to analyse problems and opportunities from different perspectives: the famous saying "think outside the box" invites us to leave behind conventional approaches to embrace new points of view. And then? Then comes convincing your partners on the adventure, igniting their passion for the proposed solution and getting them on board for the trialling stage. Finally, once all obstacles have been overcome and your target has been achieved, the satisfaction is immense. «It makes you feel a bit like Iggy Pop in the world of punk. If it wasn't for him, an entire musical genre would never have had that seed to grow from».

His academic career (including a PhD in Management & Information Technology), followed by a period in consultancy, along with constant communication with his colleagues, enabled Marinato to develop an in-depth understanding of Innovation models and processes, as well as the most interesting innovative organisations on the Italian and international scene. After arriving at Terna, he was able to put these experiences into practice in the form of making plans for all innovation processes. This planning activity was designed to support initiatives and projects by the company that operates the Italian national transmission grid, aimed at producing concrete, innovative solutions.

There are other qualities, however, that have led Ezio to become a vital figure for Terna in the field of innovation. As he himself says and advises everybody who hopes to emulate his career, it’s important never to lose sight of kindness, curiosity and courage. «I believe that kindness will save the world. We always have a responsibility to be kind, which to me means being open to sharing, collaborating and understanding the needs that people express. Curiosity is crucial in tackling the challenges of innovation, to always stay at the cutting edge and look ahead to the future. And it goes without saying that courage is needed to get over the fear of making a mistake».

To be an innovator, it takes an open mind and a wide range of skills, paired with curiosity and a passion for research. Ezio and his colleagues are Terna's "polyglots": committed to understanding the languages, the skills, and the professional roles within the company. It's not for nothing that the Innovation division is broken down into different departments: Innovation management, Venture Building and Scouting, and the Innovation Lab, alongside the Innovation Factory SO and Innovation Factory TO. These departments have been set up to cover the entire innovation funnel, from the generation of an idea to its fruition.

Marinato works in the Innovation Management division where, ever since he began, he has not only collaborated with the team to manage the "Terna Ideas" intrapreneurship programme, but also handles the design of innovation processes to support both the other divisions in the area and — in particular — the management of initiatives from the project portfolio. Today, he is the manager of the Innovation Community division with responsibility for ensuring: the implementation of the innovation model in all regional offices through various activities, like overseeing local innovation ecosystems, while engaging actively with the key players; the coordination of idea generation initiatives in Terna centres, like the Hackathon and Calls for Innovation; and the management of innovation landscaping activities, with the involvement of the main players in the local innovation ecosystems and young talents. Innovation hubs have sprung up around Italy: fully realised workshops which, thanks to synergy with centres of excellence throughout the country, provide spaces to experiment with the integration of skills and the development of solutions which can be applied within the Group.

Innovation has always existed in Terna, and now more than ever with "innovation as a service": developing new solutions that can generate value for the entire company, offering concrete answers to both corporate needs and the new challenges of the ecological transition. It's a concept that has been fully absorbed into the corporate culture, where everybody is given space and the chance to participate in the group's development.

«We are at the service of the entire company. We position ourselves as internal facilitators for all work related to the generation of innovations that can help with asset management, scouting for emerging technologies, or bringing benefits to the system, with a view to constantly improving the service we provide. All this within the context and for the benefit of the ecological transition. We do this by applying our innovation model, identifying the needs of innovation, coordinating idea-generation initiatives, carrying out regular scouting for technology, dedicating ourselves to completing innovative projects, and valuing intellectual property», Marinato explains.

Thanks to this ability to coordinate and engage all players in the innovation ecosystem, Terna is preparing for the future by developing solutions to make the electricity system more efficient, to ensure worker safety, to establish new ways of working and, naturally, to enable energy transition, with a practical, open, inclusive and far-ranging approach that involves everybody from the youngest new hire to the most cutting-edge technology companies in any given Italian region.

«To continue the musical metaphor, the whole Innovation team is like an orchestra conductor leading the artists on the stage in perfect harmony», describes Marinato. «The symphony consists of our results as a group, a group aware of its strategic role for the country and for the achievement of international decarbonisation targets».