Guest Speaker Christian Fracassi, awarded "Cavaliere del Lavoro"

‘Creative leadership.
The role of a creative leader is to discover and develop creative abilities of each member of the organization.
A creative leader doesn’ t say to people what to do or not to do.
A creative leader creates through his inner integrity the environment and the conditions under which everybody will naturally express his own ideas and creativity, and feel responsible for the well being and development of the entire organization’. – Elio D’Anna.

Last May 6th 2020 the European School of Economics hosted its second webinar focused on Business Recovery and Continuity held by John Wyse, Senior Lecturer in Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and ESE Program Director. An important contribution came from guest speakers, two young and talented professionals: Mario Montanucci Pignatelli, General Director of Christof Project Italia and former ESE alumnus, and Mr Cristian Fracassi , CEO and Innovation & advanced Engineer at ISINNOVA .

During the webinar it was analysed how Italian companies managed the various challenges as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mario Montanucci Pignatelli explained how his company contributed to the idea of creating emergency masks for hospital respirators.

At the very beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, Cristian Fracassi had been contacted by a former head physician of the Gardone Valtrompia Hospital, Dr. Renato Favero, who asked for some help in order to realise a new prototype of breathing mask. By adjusting a snorkeling mask sold by Decathlon sports store to connect to the respirators machines they were able to face the shortage of C-PAP masks for sub-intensive therapy, helping patients to breathe.

Mr. Fracassi’s team dismantled and studied the product sold by the sports store, evaluated the changes to be made and then designed a new component to guarantee the connection to the respirator. They called this link the “Charlotte Valve” and went to printing using 3D printers. The masks were quickly used in a matter of days to save the lives of COVID-19 intensive care patients in Brescia and later on in countries like Brazil, France, Germany, the UK among others.

Mr Fracassi and Dr Renato Favero have been awarded the prestigious title of “Cavalieri del Lavoro” by Italian President Mattarella in recognition of their audacity and creativity during the COVID 19 crisis for this entirely non-profit project.

The European School of Economics thanks alumnus Mario Montanucci Pignatelli for showing the importance of joining forces, especially in a critical situation.

Our congratulations to the whole team including Cristian Fracassi and Doctor Favero.