These are the skills according to this new professional figure

Definition of “Innovation Manager”

According to the definition provided by the MISE (Ministry of Economic Development), an “Innovation Manager” is “a professional specialized in the digital field capable of interpreting, defining and implementing projects and processes of digitization and corporate reorganization“. Therefore, this professional must be able to identify the different opportunities and transform them into Business for the company, managing the impact that innovative processes could have on the organizational structure of the company and generating the involvement of all company functions.

The Main Skills that an Innovation Manager must have

Among others, an Innovation Manager must possess the following aptitudes:
1. Strategic Vision: to capture elements and trends that will influence the sector in which the company operates
2. Technical Skills: multidisciplinary in nature (business, organizational, process engineering, etc.)
3. Basic Technological Skills: related to “computer” (information systems) and “digital” knowledge
4. Specialized Technological Skills: such as “Internet of Things”, “Cyber ​​Physical System”, “Big Data” etc.
5. Leadership and Change Management: to motivate and stimulate company management to change
6. Problem Solving: ability to identify and solve problems that might be encountered
7. Creativity: understood as “curiosity” or having a mental openness to everything that is “innovation”
The latter is perhaps the most important, as sometimes it can prove to be a “discriminating factor” for decreeing the “success” of the activity proposed and developed in the company by the Innovation Manager: in fact, innovation is not just “technological” but it can also concern “new ways” of traditional business management (perhaps not yet implemented), oriented on the changing needs of customers and based on efficiency and flexibility criteria.
To take advantage of the “incentives for innovation” allocated by the State (up to 80,000 euros for SMEs) the company must request an Innovation Manager, duly registered in the appropriate National List of Managers of the MISE.

The Requirements for Enrollment in the MISE List

In order for a Manager to apply for registration in the List of Innovation Managers, he must possess the appropriate qualifications (Degree Diploma), as well as certify his previous and current Professional Experience.
Furthermore, he must be accredited in the Lists of Managers established at the Representative Associations of the Manager and be specialized in the following areas of innovation: Big Data and Data Analysis, Cyber ​​Security, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Robotics, Integration and Digital Development of Business Processes and Digital Marketing.