“The automotive industry is a fundamental and strategic sector for Emilia Romagna: it accounts for a significant share of exports and is a world-class region. Silk-Faw’s decision to come here to produce its electric jewel, Hongqi S9, proves it. The Region will therefore do everything it can to promote the development of this heritage, also on the new sustainability and electric mobility frontier. Our aim is to make substantial investments, particularly in research and innovation, energy transition and the digitalisation of businesses and the components supply chain.”

These were the words of Stefano Bonaccini, President of the Emilia-Romagna Region, speaking at Rimini Expo Centre on the second day of IEG’s Ecomondo – Key Energy shows during the “E-Valley, electrical transition in the Land of Motors” conference.

The conference, organised by Vaielettrico and MOTUS-E with the contribution of Italian Exhibition Group, was opened by Professor Giorgio Prodi from the Department of Economics and Management at Ferrara University reporting on the state of the art of the Emilia-Romagna automotive supply chain in the transition from Motor Valley to E-Valley. “There are very positive and interesting signs,” he said, “The transition is very fast and there is a need for new talent. The quality of skills is not a problem because there is no shortage of that.. But there is a need for quantity because many small companies, start-ups and large groups are now looking for more engineers, more technicians. And all very quickly.” Moderated by the co-founder of Vaielettrico, Mauro Tedeschini, and the secretary of MOTUS-E, Francesco Naso, the question was then discussed by Fabrizia Vigo, Head of Institutional Relations at ANFIA; Fabio Storchi, President of Unindustria Reggio Emilia; Roberto Fedeli, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer at Silk-Faw; Marco Righi, CEO and Founder of Flash Battery; Massimo Ponzio , founder of Atop and Honorary President of Atop-Ima; Giuseppe Corcione, CEO of Reinova; Gianfranco Pizzuto, founder of Estrema Fulminea and Paolo Ghinolfi, CEO of SIFÁ.

In the afternoon Andrea Prandi, co-founder of Vaielettrico and founder of SmartItaly, presented the book “Volti e storie della E-Valley” (E-Valley Faces and Stories) compiled by Vaielettrico.it editorial staff with the contribution of BPER Banca and SIFA’. Paolo Cerruti, Head of BPER Banca’s Regional Head Office for Romagna, then presented awards to the four “E-Valley Pioneers”: Livia Cevolini, CEO and Founder of Energica Motor Company, Erik Tazzari, CEO and founder of Tazzari EV, Giuseppina Gualtieri, President of TPER and promoter of Corrente, the electric car sharing scheme, and Youtuber and influencer Matteo Valenza.

In a second debate entitled “New talents for the E-Valley”, organised in collaboration with Randstad HR Solutions, Vincenzo Colla, Regional Councillor for Development and Training, announced the Region’s plan to bring the best brains back home and prevent others from leaving. He then pointed out the excellent quality of Emilia-Romagna’s universities and promised them maximum support in developing training plans in the field of electric mobility. But equally important, he added, is technical training, for which he pledged to boost teaching in higher technical institutes.

In the debate that followed, moderated by Vaielettrico co-founder Massimo Degli Esposti, speakers included Francesco Leali, from Unimore’s Enzo Ferrari Engineering Department and lecturer at Muner (Motorvehicle University of Emilia-Romagna); Professor Claudio Rossi, promoter of Unibo’s Onda Solare project; Luca Di Silvio, sales area manager at Manz Italy; Sonia Bonfiglioli, President of Bonfiglioli Group and Vice-President of Confindustria Emilia Area Centro; Fabio Costantini, CEO at Randstad HR Solutions; Professor Claudio Cavallotto , promoter of the “E-mobility” network among schools for teaching sustainable mobility; Francesco Possati, member of the Board of Directors at Marposs Group.

In a video message, the Minister for Education, Patrizio Bianchi, reiterated the analyses of Prodi and Colla: “The speed of change and depth of the transformation,” he said, “call for a paradigm shift in the education system. We need different skills across several sectors in order to keep pace with the ongoing innovation. Applying consolidated knowledge is not enough.”