Meet Fabio Filocamo, Member of the Guarini Institute Advisory Council
Fabio Filocamo (right)
Dr. Fabio Filocamo is the founder and managing director of Dnamis, a technology transfer and venture capital company. He is a columnist and member of the advisory board at RCS media group, and publisher of Corriere della Sera newspaper. Filocamo also serves as President of the Harvard Club of Italy. He holds a LL.M. from Harvard Law School, a Ph.D. in International Law & Economics from the University of Molise, and a J.D. from the University of Rome “La Sapienza.” Filocamo is also member of the Guarini Institute Advisory Council at John Cabot University.
Tell us about your experience as an entrepreneur. Why did choose such a path?
Entrepreneurship, the process of reorganizing and starting up businesses, is a great challenge. There is always a chance to venture out into a new field and unfamiliar territory. Doing business and growing companies from scratch like tech start-ups is one of the most rewarding jobs you can choose. It is obviously not riskless. This is also why you need to develop skills to manage and control the way in which you make your business grow. Revamping companies also generates value that positively impacts everybody. So, its fun for me and great for society.
Your passion revolves around technology. Why is that?
Over the last two years, I’ve been realizing how fast society changes, and how much traditional jobs and professions have been going through radical transformations that depend greatly on technology.
You are the President of the Harvard Club of Italy. What can you tell us about this prestigious organization?
The Harvard Club of Italy is a very diverse group of individuals, with people from very different backgrounds, since it represents every single Harvard school. There are people from divinity school, medical school, engineering, law, business. The club provides a great service to grow a community of people who share the same bonds and can mentor one another.
As an editorialist for Corriere Della Sera you often cover the “brain drain” that is currently putting a costly burden on the Italian economy. What strategies do you think should be adopted by the current administration to reverse this loss of human capital?
If this ratio does not revert to a more balanced budget and investment plan for the future, we will have a generation bound to work to pay for some other person’s retirement. If he or she has the opportunity they might go study elsewhere. The problem is also not limited to the brain drain. There is also a lack of circulation of qualified young workers between Italy and the rest of the world. On the one hand, we lose over 200 thousand men and women annually, two-thirds of whom are degree holders. On the other, the vast majority of the people who are entering the country lack higher education. Our government needs to commit to a more responsible policy direction for the future.
Any tips you would like to give to up-and-coming venture capitalists?
Ambition cannot go without drive and determination. Venture capitalism is by default a risky business. You can work on a project and it can die in a couple of days, maybe months or even years. If you are lucky it will die sooner rather than later. I also think that getting curious about every single project and trying to think outside of the box, not only about technology but how it is being applied to a specific business, can make a difference.
