The beating heart of the Emilia-Romagna manufacturing system, Motor Valley is an extraordinary place, home to the brands that have built and fuelled the legend of speed around the world. Here, within a radius of just 150 km, we find a unique combination of talent, know-how, industrial and artisan ability, technological innovation, and research. All areas that Ducati aims to develop, in synergy with Dallara, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Pagani, so that the area becomes an increasingly important hub for the international automotive and motorsport industries. And the Borgo Panigale firm does this with even more conviction and commitment now that CEO Claudio Domenicali has become president of the Motor Valley Association.

Mr. Domenicali, why, at a time like this, might Motor Valley be able to play a more important role than ever before?

D- We are living in times of great change. Times in which digitalisation, artificial intelligence and robotisation will drastically change the profile of industrial manufacturing. It will be increasingly possible to replace manual jobs with collaborative robots and a growing number of current jobs will face competition from machines. This is why it is important to continue to invest in expertise. It is essential that the Motor Valley area is strong in terms of its development of technology and expertise, and that this is as distinctive and specific as possible.

Motor Valley comprises a wide variety of companies. How can this diversity translate into added value?

D- Motor Valley represents Made in Italy excellence in the automotive and industrial production chain, and the association is a project that highlights a region’s ability to network and promote the unique products for which it stands out on the international stage. Every brand has its particular characteristics, but the main common denominators are a real passion for competition, which has allowed, and continues to allow us to develop technology and innovation, and a love for design.

Speaking of innovation, what kind of synergies can develop between two- and four-wheel brands?

D- A variety, all with extremely high potential and great reach. I’m thinking about the synergies involved in developing new products and new engineering solutions for example. Like the Superleggera V4 project, which saw collaboration between Ducati and Dallara. The tests carried out in the wind tunnel allowed for the development and testing of new aerodynamic solutions. But the synergies I believe to be most important, as President of the Association, are those relating to expertise, particularly in the long term. Motor Valley needs to be able to “generate new generations”, or rather train talent and know how to ride the technical changes occurring in the manufacturing sector. This region is characterised by an academic culture and unrivalled motoring and technological expertise, and has an invaluable ability to attract passionate and talented people and firms that deserve to be supported and promoted in every way. MUNER, the Motorvehicle University of Emilia-Romagna, which brings together the main universities of Emilia-Romagna and the Motor Valley brands, is the ultimate demonstration of what we can do.