Our Innovation Award is for everyone

Innovation Day: a factory of ideas at the service of innovation


On July 14, 2022, the 11 winning projects of the 16th edition of the Innovation Award were announced.

Main categories and award-winning projects

 

Transversal categories

All the proposals falling into the categories Technology, Product and People, have contributed to an additional prize dedicated to three transversal categories:

In the Digitization category, the MBSE (Model Based System Engineer) project, for the certification of C-27J winglets through a complex simulation without testing, was awarded.

In the Sustainability category, the St Lucia GIC project, the forecasting tool for managing extreme weather events, was awarded.

Finally, in the Promotion of Leonardo’s culture and values category, the Colibrì project, for the manufacture of 3D printed respiratory valves during the 2020 lockdown, was awarded.

Special mentions

For the Product Results category, special mention to the RIM Solution (Multi-Carrier Hybrid Network) project for secure communications for the 2021 World Ski Championships in Cortina.

For the Technological Results category, special mention to the Crop Circle Mitigation project, an algorithm for the mitigation of image defects in videos, known as "crop circles".

For the People category, special mention to the Enable project, the network that promotes the inclusion of employees with disabilities and neurodiversity.

Jury Prize

A jury, made up of a selected group of Leonardo employees, awarded a special prize to the SOFIA (Strategic Operational Framework for Intelligence and Awareness) project, a knowledge sharing platform, available to all company departments, for sharing internally news, documents, and data.

Read the press release

 

Find more on the Innovation Award

The Innovation Award is an initiative open to all employees worldwide and offers the opportunity to express ideas with a high rate of innovation, across the Group’s business areas, with the aim of improving products, processes, systems, and services.

For over 15 years, this initiative has promoted a process of innovation centered on people, in which everyone, regardless of their hierarchy and role, can contribute in an original and impactful way.

Innovation Award’s numbers

831

Projects received in 2021

2,500

Applicants in 2021

16

Total editions since 2004

58%

Projects from Italy’s Group sites in 2021

42%
Projects from Group’s international sites in 2021

~ 35,000

Leonardo’s employees involved in previous editions

~ 11,000

Innovative projects and patent proposals submitted in previous editions

831 projects were presented by Leonardo employees, with reference to the activities carried out in the two-year period 2020/2021, competing in four categories:

Technological results: innovative results relating to Leonardo's technologies, in which the potential industrial impact and / or repercussions on products are evident and measurable.

Product results: innovative results relating to Leonardo's products, in which the industrial and business impact is evident and measurable.

People: new models, formats, procedures, initiatives, and processes that have helped develop people’s talents, improve collaboration and interaction between colleagues and / or have favoured the effectiveness of business processes.

Digitization and sustainability: the game changers of the new technological cycle

Leonardo's technological innovation strategy has a specific goal set in the Be Tomorrow - Leonardo 2030 Strategic Plan: to implement a sustainable transformation of new technological cycles, thanks to the integration between digital and industry. In this perspective, all the proposals falling into the categories Technology, Product and People, will compete for an additional prize dedicated to two transversal categories:

  • Digitization: innovation that has brought, or will bring, advantages in terms of digitization within the same category in which it was proposed or in other areas.
  • Sustainability: innovation that has distinguished itself for having contributed to the improvement of products, technologies, services, and processes in terms of environmental sustainability and the enhancement of skills and resources, in line with the UN 2030 Agenda’s SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

Finally, a third transversal category, Promotion of Leonardo’s culture and values, awarded the most innovative proposal that contributed to enhancing the culture and the Leonardo brand both internally and externally to the company.

Products

Products

Technological Results

Technological Results

People