This article explores how artificial intelligence and supercomputing are redefining the competitive possibilities for Italian and European businesses. Francesco Ubertini, head of CINECA and the Leonardo supercomputer, outlines a clear roadmap: AI is not a passing fad, but a cognitive infrastructure destined to become the nervous system of modern organizations.
The real obstacle is not technological, but cultural—especially in SMEs, where there is still a lack of awareness of where value is generated and where to begin. The challenge for Europe is to stop being a mere consumer of others" technologies and become a key player: to transition from technology taker to technology maker, building collaborative ecosystems modeled on Emilia-Romagna, where universities, businesses, and institutions cooperate before competing.
In this scenario, supercomputing is not a tool for the few: it is a democratic lever for simulating scenarios, managing uncertainty, and making more sound decisions. And young people—with their native digital skills—are the most valuable asset for driving this transition, provided they learn to ask the right questions.
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This text is excerpted from Chapter 8, “Technologies and Industry 5.0. Artificial Intelligence and Tools for the Future,” of the book 25 Years of Lean Thinking the Italian Way by Michele Bonfiglioli. Francesco Ubertini, president of CINECA and former rector of the University of Bologna, offers a concrete vision on artificial intelligence, supercomputing, and technological sovereignty for Italian companies. In the chapter, his perspective is part of a broader discussion focused on robust processes, digitalization, and innovation applied to business competitiveness.
In the heart of Emilia-Romagna, in Bologna, the future has already begun to calculate. It is called Leonardo, after the Renaissance genius, and is today Europe’s most powerful supercomputer for artificial intelligence. It is a machine capable of 250 million billion operations per second, but above all, it is a strategic platform available to universities, research centers, and businesses.
Leading its development is Francesco Ubertini, president of CINECA and former rector of the University of Bologna. His approach is direct, pragmatic, and data-driven, and he guides the reader through some of Europe’s most pressing challenges: digital sovereignty, technological leadership, and the impact of artificial intelligence on production systems.
Leonardo is not a symbol. It is a tool. One hour of work on this supercomputer is equivalent to 900 years of computation on a standard PC. But its true strength lies not only in its power: it lies in the democratization of access. Businesses and institutions can now simulate, optimize, and predict. It is not just about speed. It is about decision-making capability.
Leonardo is Europe’s most powerful supercomputer for artificialintelligence, developed and managed by CINECA in Bologna. With a computing capacity of 250 petaflops (equivalent to 900 years of work by a standard PC in one hour), it ranks among the top 10 supercomputers in the world according to the TOP500 list. It is accessible to universities, research centers, and companies for advanced simulations, process optimization, and predictive analytics. For the Italian manufacturing sector, it represents a concrete strategic lever: not a distant future, but an operational tool already available.
Artificial intelligence is often portrayed as the trend of the moment, but for Ubertini, it is much more than that. The question is not whether to adopt it, but when. And the time for waiting is over.
The priority is to integrate digital technologies into industrial processes, turning them into concrete drivers of value and competitiveness. For Europe, the challenge remains: with the first digital revolution—the platform revolution—we lost ground. With AI and supercomputing, however, we still have time. We have a second chance.
For Ubertini, artificial intelligence is not a magic wand. It is a cognitive infrastructure that integrates into processes like a nervous system. It will learn, adapt, and guide operational and strategic decisions.
But for this to happen, we must understand it, govern it, and steer it. Otherwise, businesses risk remaining mere buyers of solutions produced elsewhere. The point, therefore, is not just to use AI, but to build the capacity to make it part of the corporate structure.
Here a crucial shift emerges: moving from technology taker to technology maker. Only in this way can industrial sovereignty be defended and Europe’s role in the new global balance of power be consolidated.
It is not merely a matter of purchasing advanced technologies, but of developing the expertise, vision, and ability to influence the models by which technology is designed and applied. It is a strategic issue, even before it is a technological one.
Why do many companies struggle to adopt AI? According to Francesco Ubertini: “The problem isn’t a lack of technology. The roadblock is cultural.”
Italian SMEs often lack awareness of where value is generated. They start with data, not with problems. This makes it difficult to know where to begin. A shift in mindset is needed: start with the bottlenecks, ask where improvements can be made today, and avoid multiplying KPIs if the goal to be achieved is unclear.
This is a very practical lesson: technology works when it addresses a real need, not when it’s adopted as a generic response to complexity.
In a world dominated by complexity, supercomputing becomes a tool for managing uncertainty. It doesn’t predict what will happen, but it helps simulate scenarios, assess impacts, and make clearer decisions.
For Italian manufacturing, this is a strategic lever. It means shifting from a reactive approach to a predictive one, where decisions are based not only on intuition but on solid data and dynamic models. It is a shift in mindset that strengthens companies" ability to navigate unstable markets and increasingly complex processes.
Ubertini also views the younger generations with great clarity. Young people are the most valuable asset, because they possess skills that were hard to even imagine at their age. But they live in a hyperstimulated world and tend to stay on the surface.
The educational challenge, therefore, is not just to impart knowledge, but to teach them to ask the right questions, delve deeper, make connections, and reflect. Only in this way can intelligence—including artificial intelligence—become a tool at the service of human intelligence.
Innovation never arises in isolation. Strong ecosystems are needed, says Ubertini. Emilia-Romagna is a prime example: universities, businesses, research, and institutions that collaborate before competing.
This is the logic of pre-competitive cooperation: building the foundation together, then competing in the final stretch. A vision that strengthens the region and can help Europe become not just a consumer of technologies, but a key player in the future.
The full interview with Francesco Ubertini can be found in the FUTURO. Conversazioni di Buonsenso podcast.
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Leonardo is Europe’s most powerful supercomputer for artificial intelligence. It is located in Bologna, managed by CINECA—the Interuniversity Consortium for Automatic Computing—and boasts a computing capacity of 250 petaflops. In practical terms, one hour of work on Leonardo is equivalent to 900 years of computation on a standard PC. It ranks among the top 10 supercomputers in the world according to the TOP500 list and is accessible to Italian and European universities, research centers, and businesses for complex simulations, production process optimization, and the development of artificial intelligence models.
According to Francesco Ubertini, president of CINECA, the main obstacle is not a lack of available technology, but a deep cultural gap: many SMEs still do not clearly understand where value is generated in their processes and therefore do not know where to start. The most common mistake is starting with data instead of real problems. The key is to reverse the approach: first identify concrete bottlenecks, clearly define the goal to be achieved, and only then choose the most suitable technological tool. AI produces measurable results only when it addresses a real need.
It means ceasing to be passive buyers of technologies designed and developed elsewhere, and becoming active players in the technological value chain: capable of designing, adapting, and managing solutions based on their own industrial and cultural needs. For Europe, this transition is strategic: with the first digital revolution—that of the major platforms—the continent has fallen behind the U.S. and China. With artificial intelligence and supercomputing, there is still an opportunity to reclaim a leading role, provided we invest in our own skills, research, and infrastructure.
Supercomputing and AI do not replace solid processes: they enhance them. In the context of Lean Thinking and Industry 5.0, these technologies become tools for predictively eliminating waste, simulating improvement scenarios before implementing them, and making decisions based on real data rather than intuition. It is the natural evolution of continuous improvement in the digital age: same principles, exponentially more powerful tools. Ubertini’s vision aligns perfectly with Michele Bonfiglioli’s approach: technology and method are not alternatives, but complements.
Francesco Ubertini is president of CINECA, Italy’s leading supercomputing center, and served as rector of the University of Bologna. His relevance to businesses lies in his ability to translate technological complexity into concrete strategic vision: he does not speak of AI in the abstract, but of how businesses can use it to compete, make better decisions, and defend their industrial sovereignty. His perspective, captured in Michele Bonfiglioli’s book *25 Years of Lean Thinking, Italian Style*, is a point of reference for anyone who wants to understand where European industry is headed.
To read the full chapter and explore other sections of the book, discover 25 Years of Lean Thinking the Italian Way by Michele Bonfiglioli.
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