The CEO of Angelini Industries and Angelini Pharma tells the value of leadership, the differences between the United States and Europe in research and the importance of dialogue between universities and enterprises
Sergio Marullo di Condojanni leads Angelini Industries from 2020 and, from January 2026, is also managing director of Angelini Pharma. Graduated in Law at LUISS Guido Carli, where he also obtained his doctorate in internal and international arbitration, with an experience gained in the world of finance and university education, reflects on the challenges of an international group, on investments in innovation and the conditions necessary to transform research into progress. We met him at the conference NOVA-MBA, dedicated to the dialogue between Italian companies and professionals.
His career began in law and finance, before reaching the lead of Angelini Industries in 2020. How did these experiences contribute to its way of leading a large industrial group?
Legal studies have helped me to have a broader and deeper vision of things. Managing an enterprise means first of all understanding people and, strategically, understanding the contexts in which to move. A training that allows to observe situations from different perspectives is very useful. Finance is also important: when talking about business, reading and interpreting numbers is fundamental.
Angelini Industries operates in 21 countries. How does the Italian identity of the group keep alive and what are the main challenges on international markets?
Identity keeps itself alive through people. The decision-making center is in Italy and our way of conceiving work is born from a vision of Italian leadership, which we also carry in other countries where we operate. The challenge is to understand different markets and cultures, which involve different approaches to business. It is necessary to maintain an open minded mind and not to think that a single model can work everywhere: it is necessary to know the habits and characteristics of each market.
What is the main difference between the US and the European approach to investments in pharmaceutical research? And what balance should Italy look for?
In the United States it is common practice to support innovation through an investment, also financial, and to make it adequately available when producing concrete results. Research is encouraged and failure is considered part of the path; for this, when you get a result, the economic return is consequently. In Europe we are more behind in the willingness to recognize and support the value of innovation. If the protection of patients must always remain a priority, it is important that it be pursued also by reconciling the possibility for companies to invest and obtain a fair remuneration.
With Angelini Ventures you started a €300 million fund dedicated to biotechnology and medical technologies. How much does it matter to invest in startups and what impact will artificial intelligence have on research?
It is fundamental. A fund of this kind allows you to closely observe the most significant innovations and areas in which startups can introduce radical changes. It is a way to follow innovation in an active and dynamic way. Even in our industry technology, and in particular artificial intelligence, will change the way of doing research. However, its use in pharmaceuticals is still evolving: it will be important to understand how it will develop concretely.
She also had an experience in university teaching. How much does the relationship between academia and enterprises count today to train talent and promote innovation?
Through our Academy we continue to have opportunities for comparison with the LUISS Guido Carli University and with other universities. When they invite me, I gladly return to tell our experience. I think it is very much born from the academic world: innovation is often generated in universities. It is therefore essential to encourage the exchange between universities and enterprises, as it happens in the United States, where this link has been understood before in Europe. Without this contamination there is no progress.
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