Our Innovation Award is for everyone

The Innovation Award is an international initiative aimed at all Leonardo Group employees and represents a great opportunity to express highly innovative and development project ideas, related to the business areas managed by the Group and aimed at improving products, processes, systems and company services.

The Award promotes and enhances the creativity and talent of all Leonardo people, considering their contribution to the growth and success of the company to be strategic.

The final day of the XVIII edition of the Innovation Award was held in Rome on 18 July 2024, focused on the themes of multi-domain and digital continuum and divided into seven categories.

1,070 proposals were submitted (an increase of 320 proposals compared to the previous edition), involving 2,282 people from the Leonardo Group, including 50 Research Fellows from Leonardo Labs.

These are the winners of the recently concluded edition:

Best Development 2023 category, rewards the technological and product results achieved during the past year:

Winner: SEE-ALL – Corporate Proposal – Leonardo Labs and Electronics Business Area
Team: Massimiliano Dispenza, Massimiliano Proietti, Pierfrancesco Ulpiani, Ugo Zanforlin, Lorenzo Francesco Livi
Mention: Dragonfire Beam Director_ High Power Fiber Laser Amplifier (HPFA) for Laser Directed Energy (LDEW) – Electronics Business Area Proposal UK
Team: Ross McLaren, Alexander Kearsley, Alistair Downie, Daniel Barry, David Coote, Iain Gray, Jamie Lamb, Marek Korda, Mark Godfrey, Andrew Dunn, Andrew Ralph, Barry Fleming, Calum Lithgow, Damian Shaw, David Legge, Ellen Milne, Ethan Hunking, Graeme Anderson, Sam Pollard, Simon Ogg, John Barr

Digital Transformation category, focuses on the digitalisation of processes and services with a view to promoting the technological evolution of the company:

Winner: Predictive 4 logistics and HELIanalytics – Helicopters Business Area Proposal
Team: Giorgio Cova, Francesco Pierpaoli, Massimo Manzini, Matteo Aldo Bonvicini, Michele Cremona, Simone Bogni
Mention: AI Defects Detector – Automatic AI scanning system for the detection and classification of surface defects on metal fuselages – Aerostructures and Corporate Business Area Proposal – Leonardo Labs
Team: Davide Chirico, Alessandra Metrangolo, Maria Martino, Roberto Morelli, Silvia Auricchio

Innovative Idea category, rewards the most innovative ideas, not yet the subject of investments, which can open new horizons of technological, product or business development to support Leonardo's growth:

Winner: ARCS: Active Radar Cross Section – Aircraft Business Area Proposal
Team: Francesco Flora, Stefano Martorana, Francesco Acerra
Mention: DIGITAL COPILOT – AI Agent for Training Scaling – Helicopter Business Area Proposal
Team: Emanuele Bezzecchi, Elena Prandoni, Igor Krawiec

People First category, rewards new formats that value people, their well-being and inclusiveness, promoting a sense of belonging among colleagues:

Winner: Dinner by Leo – Aircraft Business Area Proposal
Team: Matteo Piviotti, Chiara Ferraris, Giuseppina Nugnes
Mention: Be A Saint Day – UK Helicopters Business Area Proposal
Team: Jacob Potts, Aizan Abid, Daniel Seabrook, Molly Dugmore, Samuel Scott

Sustainability Category, rewards projects that put sustainable development at the center of the proposal:

Winner: Circula Chip: recovery of strategic materials from foundry and microelectronics processing waste – Electronics Business Area Proposal
Team: Francesco Scavone, Luca Latessa
Mention: SUStainable CAtalytic Materials (SUSCAM) in “defense of the peace" between humanity and nature – Corporate Proposal – Leonardo Labs
Team: Veronica Papa, Abhishek Kumar

Innovative Factory category, rewards technological innovation for the optimization of operations processes:

Winner: Leonardo Digital Production System – Business Area Proposal Electronics UK
Team: Lauren Orszt, Amy Lauder, Helen Allen, Jackie Paterson, Luke Stammers, Scott McManus, Vanessa Caluban, Neil Silcock, Josh Munn
Mention: Removal of galvanic treatments and paints using laser technology – Proposal Business Area Aircraft
Team: Simone Botti, Alessandro Gallo, Armando Barattiero, Federico Taglialegne, Piero Visconti

Interdivisional Idea Category, promotes collaboration between different Business Areas, Subsidiaries and Joint Ventures, to stimulate a multi-domain and multidisciplinary approach:

Winner: O.N.E.: On-board Neural Engine - An innovative approach to predictive maintenance in the aeronautical sector - Proposal Business Areas Electronics and Aircraft
Team: Luca Monorchio, Andrea Bonzano, Christian Giusti, Francesco Ferrari, Luigi Ciolli, Matteo Santini, Roberto Luisi

The winners of this category received, in addition to the prize, funding to verify the actual applicability of their project and to evaluate its impact on business.

This funding was also allocated to two other proposals deemed particularly worthy:

Title: Resource Pooling in Collaborative Air Combat – Proposal for the Electronics and Aircraft Business Areas
Team: Domenico Cardamone, Enzo Capoluongo, Gaetano Curatolo, Giacomo Andriani, Giulia Lucia Sicuso
Title: Optimization of Organizational Learning through Digital Synergies – Proposal for the Aircraft Business Area
Team: Francesco Cordaro, Nicoletta Ferreri

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Our Innovation Award is for everyone