Innovation and research, new Pwc Center of Excellence in Trento

The new PwC Center of Excellence in Trento, the technology hub created through collaboration with the Cassa Centrale Group, is now operational.
It is an expertise hub for Trentino businesses and local authorities, with the ambition of making it available to national entities. The Center of Excellence will be housed in a 1,000-meter area at Itas Forum in the Albere district, where about 80 people will work when fully operational. The goal is to attract and enhance the best talent in the area. At the inaugural event, the provincial councillor for economic development, labor, university and research spoke of Trentino as a frontier land and never a suburb. In thanking PwC for the strong commitment and reliability with which it has approached our area, the council member stressed that this important entity has grasped the opportunities that Trentino offers in the fields of innovation, research and development, deeming this as the ideal location for its new technology hub. The provincial administration therefore welcomes the collaboration initiated with the various entities in the area, starting with the Cassa Centrale Group: this is a great opportunity to grow the skills the area offers, but also to train young people, with new high-profile job opportunities.

PwC Italia chairman and CEO Giovanni Andrea Toselli, Cassa Centrale Group top managers Giorgio Fracalossi, president, and Sandro Bolognesi, managing director, Cassa centrale banca chief information officer and Allitude CEO Manuele Margini, attended the inauguration of the Center of Excellence together with 200 other guests, representing local institutions and businesses. The meeting saw the participation – among others – of the mayor of Trento, and Andrea Simoni and Silvio Ranise, secretary general and director, respectively, of Fondazione Bruno Kessler‘s Center for Cyber Security, the innovation and research partner of the PwC Center of Excellence.
 Simoni presented the potential synergies to be implemented in the collaboration between the Foundation and the new Center, in order to start a virtuous path that will combine research with the ability to create concrete solutions; Ranise spoke about the new frontiers of digital identity with a focus on the Digital wallet, a project of European significance that will make it possible to overcome the current privacy limitations and threats
of identity theft. The meeting featured a panel discussion on “Technology Innovation and New Frontiers of Development,” which was attended by representatives of the technology partners of the PwC Center of Excellence: Francesco Del Sole, financial services leader at Microsoft Italy; Roberto Loro, technology & innovation director at Dedagroup; and Uljan Sharka, Genius CEO and founder.

The PwC Center of Excellence has joined an area dedicated to innovation: in fact, the Autonomous Province of Trento ranks fifth in Italy in terms of competitiveness factors, i.e., the ability to offer an attractive environment for investment and quality of life and work for its residents. With a population of 545,000 people and more than 46,500 businesses, it boasts a per capita GDP 34 percent higher than the national average (44,235 euros vs. 32,984 euros), an employment rate exceeding 70% (vs. 61.5% nationally) and a value added per employee that ranks third in Italy (79,545 euros).
The new PwC Center of Excellence, where about 80 people will work when fully operational, through the innovation component will be responsible for creating an ecosystem aimed at enhancing the best ideas developed by start-ups, universities, Fondazione Bruno Kessler and will act as an “Innovation lab” and project accelerator.  Through the delivery component, it will follow the development and implementation of IT solutions.

PAT press release