MILAN (ITALPRESS) – For sports and infrastructure the slogan is one: innovation. Vito Cozzoli, managing director of Autostrade dello Stato Spa, is convinced of this, but with a past from ad and president of “Sport and Health”, who interviewed by the Agency of Stampa Italpress explained how the growth of these two worlds, so apparently distant, but in reality with so many analogies, is linked to technology.
“The sport and the highway sector have a common theme that is to be a greenfield. In sport, as in highways, you can do many things: you can promote innovation, growth, you can predict benefits for territories and communities.”.
According to Cozzoli, “sport, for example, must take more opportunity to change, since we are still a bit static and conservative. We must dare more, have more courage and more initiative. Today the sports market in the world produces so much income and employment, but can produce even more results thanks to technology and innovation. There is a market potential worth 60 billion worldwide. From this point of view, when I was at Sport and Health, we launched an incubator of innovative startups at the Italico Forum, a model that wants to grow young people and innovation in the sports sector, a laboratory of technology and experimentation”.
“Alongside – Cozzoli continues – most of our highways were built before the 70s; therefore it is a sector that must grow and today can do so thanks to innovation because these highways are attended six times more than when they were built. Today technology can help a lot. Autostrade dello Stato is a young company that wants to become a laboratory of innovation and an incubator of new technologies in the service of safety, sustainability and services to users. In these days Autostrade dello Stato is starting with a program of innovative interventions that focus on sensory, drones, firefighter intervention in tunnel safety through technological innovation, artificial intelligence and robots.”.
Positive example of development, not only sporty, of the interior country are the Olympics of Milan-Cortina, in course in these weeks, event that, according to Cozzoli, “will have a positive multidimensional effect”.
“On the one hand in industrial and economic terms, we think of the impact on tourism, infrastructure, benefits for employment and the attraction of investments – comments the State Autostrade ad. On the other hand there is the social impact of the Olympics, the sense of the community and the social cohesion that has been determined. We also think of sports practice: how many people have discovered many disciplines thanks to our champions who have gone to medal. You can create almost a “Sinner effect” of practitioners who approach these disciplines thanks to the deeds of the samples. And then there is the theme of Legacy: the Olympics cannot remain an end-to-self event. The theme of the event also helps, because many territories of Lombardy and Veneto have been discovered by tourists from afar. The Olympics cannot end in February or March with the Paralympics; they must be an event that leaves track and a footprint. I think these Olympics will be a further lever of growth, innovation and investments, and our country is well represented in front of the world both for the organization and for the promotion of Made in Italy. It’s a great event that we’re making the most of.”.
On the occasion of Milan-Cortina, Fondazione Laureus, of which Cozzoli is a member of the Cda, carries on the project “Sport for Good”, with the aim of inspiring new generations through the Olympic and Paralympic values and of using sport as a catalyst for social change. This is why the Hub of Fondazione Laureus Italia was born, a space of discussion, during the Games, with the aim of sharing and promoting the mission of the Foundation, offering participants important ideas of reflection. In this context, Vito Cozzoli presented his book “The social and industrial soul of sport”.
“The book carries out an original vision of sport, in which the sporting event, the agonistic event, the passion, the emotion of sport is not antithetical to the social value of sport, but indeed the two possibilities integrate and complete. They tell me that, together with Beppe Marotta, who wrote the preface of the book, we will soon receive the Respect Sandro Ciotti award dedicated to a great radio”.
L’INTERVISTA INTEGRALE
-Foto Italpress-
(ITALPRESS).
