The Ansaldo Foundation, in the redefined role recently initiated by Finmeccanica, is establishing itself as one of the most original and active institutions dedicated to business culture in Europe, thanks to the increasing involvement of social bodies and institutions in the region.
This is a truly unique institution which had its origins in a body of knowledge and archived material accumulated over time, but which today has been given extraordinary dynamism, new strategic inspiration and institutional stability by its new mission, in which it will purposely bring together scientific research, higher education and cultural activities. To get an idea of what the Ansaldo Foundation could one day be, imagine a place (not only physical) where it will be possible to bring together the various disciplines for scientific analysis of the knowledge obtained from entrepreneurial activity, which encourages encounters between intellectual figures – scholars, public administrators, professionals, entrepreneurs – for whom the enterprise is an intermediary or a focus of activity, and where companies have access to permanent and authoritative centre of reflection on innovation. This mission, efficiently organized at the famous Villa Cattaneo dell’Olmo, will allow entrepreneurial and economic culture to contribute to national cultural awareness. It will promote exchange and partnership between different companies and individuals, in the belief that combining skills, capacity, resources and knowledge produces competitive advantages, and will raise awareness of companies as social, and not merely economic, entities, bearers of responsibility as well as creators of profit. Alongside these lofty but more distant goals, the Foundation can also be used in context by Finmeccanica to provide support for marketing and external relations, to help to broaden the social scope of the company and the region that goes beyond the merely economic.
To sum up, thanks to the knowledge and capacity contributed by the staff of Finmeccanica and its companies, the new Ansaldo Foundation is taking its first real steps forward, and will soon develop from a place where our cultural memories are stored into one of those areas where modern man can recognize his own image.