The Visionary Technologist

“I’m a physicist by education, electronic engineer by training and entrepreneur by choice,” says Dr. Roberto Siagri, CEO of the Eurotech Group, a multi-national technology company headquartered in Amaro, Italy. Together with four other partners, Dr. Siagri founded Eurotech in 1992, based on the idea of adapting standard PC technologies for use in industrial applications and replacing difficult to program microcontroller-based systems with more cost-effective miniaturized PC compatible alternatives.

From Eurotech’s early beginnings, Dr. Siagri had a vision to drive innovation towards what he termed “Pervasive Computing.” He imagined a much more connected world; a world surrounded by smart sensors and devices, self-driving vehicles, smart buildings and cities, sophisticated M2M networks, and even human wearable computers interfacing with other devices and networks. And, he clearly saw Eurotech leading the way. While the concept of pervasive computing was complete science fiction in 1992, it has since evolved to become what is more commonly known today as the Internet of Things (IoT).

The company’s first major customer started out as a proof of concept. The idea was to replace a microcontroller-based system with an open architecture embedded PC for automation of the entry gates at Disney World Orlando. Disney’s objective was to reduce the total cost of ownership with a system that could be more easily programmed and updated. It turned out to be a brilliant success that formed the basis for many future successes as Dr. Siagri has consistently applied his pervasive computing vision to help shape Eurotech into a technology leader with expertise around solving real-world problems.Today, Eurotech products are in use worldwide across a broad range of market segments including healthcare, security, transportation, energy, military, aerospace, and industrial automation.

“In the always changing technology world, you must learn to adapt, always paying attention to technology trends and what they may mean to your customers and markets.” - Dr. Roberto Siagri

While Eurotech now boasts many of the world’s most prestigious organizations as customers, this has only happened through significant persistence, patience and the ability to adapt. Dr. Siagri explains, “In the always changing technology world, you must learn to adapt, always paying attention to technology trends and what they may mean to your customers and markets.”

It is this philosophy that has helped drive Eurotech’s technology development. To best meet the needs of a broad range of industries and applications, the company’s offerings are largely designed around a modular, building block architecture. In this way, OEMs, system integrators and ISV partners can select the components they need to ensure the best value to the end customer. Eurotech has also remained true to its original charter to create products and solutions built around open systems and industry standards. This helps to foster an ecosystem of strong partners that can more cost-effectively build market and application-specific solutions around Eurotech products.

Advising the future entrepreneur, the dynamic and pragmatic leader says to have a clear long-term vision,while being selective in building up your team, learning to balance short and long-term objectives, and then never give up! “Be prepared for dark moments,” he says. When those moments do happen, he personally likes to refer to President Roosevelt’s speech known as “The Man in the Arena” to remember that hard work, tenacity, and a desire to do the right thing can get you far in life.

Always looking ahead, Dr. Siagri is optimistic about broadscale IoT adoption and the company’s contribution to this paradigm shift. He adds that the industry is migrating into a new era of networked computing that will include millions and even billions of intelligent end points. The need to efficiently monitor, control and manage those end points is revolutionizing enterprise computing. The visionary leader predicts, “But we are only at the beginning of a revolution, one in which we fully expect Eurotech to play a key role.”