After 25+ years dedicated to building a network of over 300 clients across Italy and Europe, Innovaway set up an office in Philadelphia in 2024. This week, they discussed their plans for the US market at an AI-focused event hosted by the Italian Trade Agency.
When Innovaway was founded in Naples back in 1998, Information Technology was a hands-on field focused largely on infrastructure and maintenance. Today, AI has redefined the landscape, and the Innovaway team has fully embraced it as the key to succeeding in the US market.
«If a bot called you and spoke to you, you wouldn’t be able to tell that it’s not a human», said Stefano Martiniani, an assistant professor of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and neuroscience at NYU. «We call this the golden era of AI. There’s this sense of transformation that prevails in both the [IT] industry and our daily lives», he added in front of the crowd of over 50 Innovaway team members, partners, and potential partners.
AI, explained Martiniani, isn’t a perfect substitute for traditional IT professionals due to the prevalence of hallucinations; however, it will be useful in improving the work of the best IT engineers «who know what’s right and what’s wrong» and are able to identify mistakes.
Professor Antonio Giordano, president of the Sbarro Health Research Organization, expanded the conversation to the field of medicine, describing the «big help» provided by AI within research. Pfizer developed the COVID-19 vaccine using an AI-assisted drug development platform back in 2020. Today, the applications are even more impressive. The Mayo Clinic radiology department is using AI to find genetic markers in scans in order to help with diagnosing patients, highlighted Giordano.
Innovaway’s International Digital & Data Services Director, Bogdan Stavrev, cited a 50% reduction in medical personnel feeling burned out, thanks to the relief provided by AI, highlighting its potential to eliminate duplicate work.
Antonio Burinato, General Manager of Innovaway, acknowledged the rapidly accelerating pace of change within the IT industry due to AI’s disruptive force. «This event is a good chance for us to tell the US market that we are here. It’s an important test for us to prove our ability to compete in the worldwide market», he said.
Philippe Rouvrais, Chief International Business Officer and CEO for Innovaway in the USA, shared his enthusiasm. «We have a strong presence in old-fashioned IT. We want to move from that legacy business and expand our service capabilities toward AI.»
Innovaway’s US expansion, explained Rouvrais, is grounded in providing better service for their clients: «We will never expand if it doesn’t bring value to our partners and clients. We really want to have a global presence, and I make sure our business is aligned to our clients’ needs.»
«Our solutions can make clients 40% faster than the competition», said Ventsislav Kassamski, Innovaway’s international sales director. According to Kassamski, the «best place to hide information on the internet» is the second page of Google. «Nobody is clicking there», he emphasized, explaining that Innovaway helps clients get their content on the front page.
Innovaway has formed one of its first US partnerships with staffing and recruitment corporation ManpowerGroup. Carolyn Balkin, senior vice president of IT at Manpower, attended the event to mark the occasion. Despite the help offered by AI, «at the bottom of it all, there’s talent», said Balkin.
Over the past eight years, Innovaway has grown by four times, according to Burinato, and now boasts a team of over 1,000 professionals and $16 million in revenue. He is confident that exploring the US market will turn out to be a winning move: «We believe we can be successful here as in Italy.»
