Leonardo's "Free Thinking Workshop" dedicated to the unmanned sector was held at the Ansaldo Foundation headquarters in Genoa

The unmanned (remotely piloted) technology of Leonardo was central to the three-day "Free Thinking Workshop" recently held at the Ansaldo Foundation's headquarters in Genoa. Leonardo's managers attending the workshop discussed ideas and concepts generated by the various work sessions to help drive forward the Group's strategic vision for the unmanned sector.

Genoa 18 October 2018

The three-day meeting was an opportunity for the Group to refine its strategic vision on the unmanned sector
The “Free Thinking Workshop” was organized by Leonardo in collaboration with the “Fondazione Ricerca & Imprenditorialità”

The unmanned (remotely piloted) technology of Leonardo was central to the three-day “Free Thinking Workshop” recently held at the Ansaldo Foundation’s headquarters in Genoa. Leonardo’s managers attending the workshop discussed ideas and concepts generated by the various work sessions to help drive forward the Group’s strategic vision for the unmanned sector.

The “Free Thinking Workshop” was organised by Leonardo in collaboration with the "Fondazione Ricerca & Imprenditorialità" (FR&I) which supported its methodology while leveraging on its own experience and network to facilitate the innovation processes.

"The Genoa workshop was a unique opportunity to evaluate our current position and to focus on the forward-looking opportunities of the unmanned sector. Our objective is to face cohesively the future challenges of one of the market segments that offers the highest added value and where Leonardo is an acknowledged leader at an international level", says Laurent Sissmann, Leonardo’s Unmanned System SVP. "Thanks to the successful research and development of our unmanned technology, it was possible during the Free Thinking Workshop to identify the actions required to consolidate Leonardo's position as a key international player in the development of integrated capabilities, products and services with remotely piloted systems".

Leonardo is one of the main developers of unmanned technology, a sector that will generate – according to market estimates – worldwide revenues of about 180 billion Euros in the next 10 years. Leonardo's unmanned technology, developed for both commercial and military applications, ranges from purely automated solutions, which react to events in a predetermined and therefore predictable manner, to fully autonomous systems that adapt their actions to the changing characteristics of the operating environment. These systems can also, through a continuous learning process, gradually reduce the need for direct human intervention.

Along this line of evolution, Leonardo is developing systems and platforms in various areas of its business, including UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft), UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) and RUAS (Rotary Unmanned Air System); as well as remote sensing of oceans from satellites and robotics for extra planetary missions.