Support for local communities

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Attention to the needs of local communities, in all of the countries where the Group operates, is a necessary requisite for our doing business. Here are some examples of initiatives we took in 2016.

Bilingual education centre for children from 3 to 6

Italy

Born from an idea of Francesco Merloni and supported by Ariston Thermo, “Iris Garden”, an avant-garde Italian-English nursery school equipped with considerable digital tools, has been set up in Fabriano, Marche, to build up children’s language skills and as a structure for sports and art, music, science and technology laboratories. The school, operational up to 11 hours a day to support working parents, aims to prepare the new generations for a borderless future, rich in incentives.

Energy efficiency at school

Hungary

In Hungary, Ariston Thermo has launched a new national programme to promote energy efficiency awareness in younger generations. At a first stage, the nursery school teachers of 4 regions received free training with European level teaching in order to be able to teach children to acquire awareness of energy efficiency; the children were then involved in a drawing competition on the subject, and the best drawings received toys as prizes. For this programme, Ariston Thermo collaborated with the association Energiaklub, the country’s most famous NGO.

“Helping hands”

Vietnam

Ariston Thermo Vietnam has launched an intense internal collection campaign for funds and relief goods to support the populations of some of the country’s central regions, affected by two devastating floods that hit the area between the end of October and the beginning of November.
Help collected through this initiative, called “Helping Hands”, was then delivered to local populations directly by a team of Ariston Thermo volunteers.
Despite the difficult road conditions, volunteers were able to reach the two districts of Huong Khe (Ha Tinh) and Le Thuy (Quang Binh) and deliver 400 parcels containing food and other relief goods.

“There is no value in the economic success of any industrial initiative, unless it is accompanied by a commitment to social progress.”
Aristide Merloni

In support of entrepreneurship

The Aristide Merloni Foundation has always been committed to support and develop the organisational-entrepreneurial factor as the true driver of growth, whether for existing businesses or start-ups.

TRAINING INITIATIVES: 35 entrepreneurs, professionals and startuppers were dedicated the second edition of “Missione impresa”, the laboratory promoting entrepreneurship organised by the Foundation together with Confindustria Ancona, aimed at making enterprises aware of the strategic importance of social media marketing through the correct use of digital tools. Duringthe year, the Foundation also organised a Master’s to acquire competencies in Europlanning, in order to accompany firms towards accessing direct and indirect management 2014-2020 European funds.

COMPANY OBSERVATORY: The Marche company ranking system is now 30 years old; this anniversary was the chance to announce the publication in digital format of all rankings and free access to the Company Observatory database, as a tool for researchers, analysts and entrepreneurs. On that occasion, Ariston Thermo Group was acknowledged as the “most global” Group of the Marche, strongly internationalised and competitive while being firmly rooted in the territory.

THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE: The Scientific Committee was set up in 2016; it reflects the international opening to innovation and growth dear to the Foundation and its members include: Enrico Letta as president, Joaquín Almunia, European commissioner for competition from 2010 to 2014, Maria Chiara Carrozza, university professor of industrial bioengineering, Ferruccio de Bortoli, president of the publishing house Longanesi, Andrea Gavosto of the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation, Luigi Gubitosi, Operating Partner of Advent International fund, Daniel Gros of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Chen Zhimin of the Fudan University of Shanghai, Sultan Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy of the UAE, and Giovanni Gorno Tempini, president of the Fiera Milano Foundation. The Committee identified three guidelines for the next three-year period: growth and innovation in the energy sector and Fabriano Creative City UNESCO.

Projects for culture

The Aristide Merloni Foundation - after being the main driver of the nomination of Fabriano as a UNESCO Creative City - remains a key player in the activities linked to this designation. In fact, in September 2015, Fabriano organised the UNESCO Creative Cities’ International Forum, which brought together representatives from 11 “UNESCO Creative Cities”. The meeting was an opportunity for a network of experience to be brought together to share cultural products from seven disciplines. In addition, Fabriano was also nominated to be host city for the upcoming UNESCO Creative Cities Network Annual Meeting for 2017.