Research and Development in Telecom Italia

Within Telecom Italia, research and development activities are carried out by the Information Technology, TILab and Innovation & Industry Relations departments, which oversee the development of new technologies and the engineering aspects of Telecom Italia's service offers through strategic partnerships with the main producers of telecommunications equipment and systems and with research centres of excellence at the most highly qualified national and international academic institutions. Activities to enhance and generate competitive advantage for the Group are of particular importance and are pursued through strategic management of the relationship between research, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and business, aimed at developing the company’s assets in patents rights. 14 new applications for patents were filed during 2011, broken down as shown in the following diagram.

Stakeholders

The relevant stakeholders for research and development are:

• the company departments involved (e.g. Marketing and Purchasing);
• the suppliers, for the joint development of solutions in accordance with the technical requirements of Telecom Italia;
• research centres and universities, for cooperation and joint projects. In 2011, 13 new collaborative projects were begun with Italian universities (in addition to the 9 already under way at the beginning of 2010), covering research into new technologies, encryption algorithms, new services and new communication standards;
• the standardisation organisations and forums (including NGMN, OpenIPTV Forum, OMA, 3GPP, ETSI, TM Forum, W3C, ITU-T) in which Telecom Italia is actively involved;
• the Ministries (Ministry for Economic Development and Ministry of Education, Universities and Research), the European Union and public authorities (e.g. CNR and local authorities) for projects funded through participation in competitive tenders, and partnership initiatives;
• non-governmental associations, associations, alliances and industry forums (e.g. GSMA, m-health, etc.) which bring together all the entities involved in the value chain of the specific market;
• international research and development organisations (e.g. EURESCO and Joint Technology Initiative).

How R&D issues are identified

The themes on which projects are developed are identified on the basis of the three-year technological plan, the reference document for the Group, which provides guidelines for the evolution of the network, platform and services. 

Published annually, following a wide-ranging process involving all the areas of the company involved, the Plan identifies the main external factors (regulations, standards, vendors, other market operators) that may influence the company's strategies and highlights the emerging and cross-cutting technologies in other sectors that may be of interest to the Group.

R&S issues

The themes identified can be arranged in 3 macro-strands:

• network and service platform innovation;
• services to reduce environmental impact;
  
• services for the community.