A week in the working life

Silvia Colella has been around for a while, more than a decade to be exact. Yes, time flies when you’re having fun! A geologist by profession, she started as an Innovation Management consultant at Ciaotech in 2014. Because of this background she is passionate about European projects with significant environmental impact. After five years doing many European innovation projects in different sectors, she switched to Innovation Engineering (INNEN) in 2019.

As a project manager she oversees the activities of EC-funded projects in which INNEN is a partner. While she is not a developer herself, she coordinates INNEN’s involvement in projects that don’t require specific IT expertise. For instance, she leads projects where INNEN manages dissemination and communication efforts, including the development of websites or promotional materials alongside their design and development teams. She also oversees the social media channels while managing dissemination activities for various projects. And she indirectly manages projects with IT development tasks, collaborating closely with the technical manager to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Apart from being a project manager, she is also the liaison between INNEN’s software engineers and the rest of PNO Innovation. Before the very recent activation of Service Desk +, she also managed the helpdesk for platforms such as Matchpoint, Innovation Place, and Wheesbee, which are widely used within PNO Innovation. In this way, she connected with many colleagues within the group and became a well-known name. She provided support, gathered requirements, and communicated them internally. She is also in charge of testing existing and new platforms such as AI technologies that are being developed, providing feedback, and helping roll them out once they are ready.

In five years, Silvia has seen INNEN grow from less than twenty to more than forty employees. She works in the office in Rome, the Eternal City, but usually travels to her native village of Arce on Thursdays. It is a municipality in Ciociaria, the southern part of the province of Frosinone, in the Lazio region. It is in the countryside on a hill, 90 kilometers from Rome. There she works from her mother’s spacious home on Fridays and Mondays while in between she spends long and enjoyable weekends with her family and friends in her mother’s large garden

Silvia Colella, Project Manager at Innovation Engineering, tells us about one of her working weeks

Monday

“On Monday I normally work in Arce. After spending the weekend with family and friends, I prefer to start early. This is possible because we don’t have team meetings on Mondays. Except once a month, when we have our team meeting in the Rome office. Each day, especially on Monday, I begin with a review of pending tasks, which I prioritize based on urgency. I manage emails and Teams contacts, followed by calls and meetings to ensure all projects are on track.

I spend around 65% of my time on EC funded projects. Currently INNEN is partner in fourteen Horizon Europe projects. I manage these projects together with my colleagues Lorenzo Sutton and Andrea Cavallaro. The rest of my time, around 35%, I spend on helping and supporting the digitalization of PNO Group, for instance the WheesBee platform. Today I am testing a new release of the platform.

I go swimming in the evening, something I have been doing since I was a kid. I competed in championships at a high level, but I stopped swimming when I went to college. Until I realized five years ago that I missed swimming. I rediscovered my childhood passion and I really can’t live without it now. For me, swimming is also water gym, which is a water aerobics exercise workout, and hydro-biking. I love anything to do with water. After swimming I travel to Rome by car, which is less than one hour, completely freshened up and ready for the rest of the week.”

Tuesday

“I usually work from our office in Rome on Tuesdays. My primary responsibility is to ensure that INNEN meets its deadlines and fulfils its obligations in European projects, adhering to grant agreements and deadlines. I prioritize project activities, participate in both in-person and online meetings, work on deliverables, and coordinate the teams involved in the projects. I am very flexible, and I can easily schedule my time. That is the aspect I like most about my job. I like change and variation.

I go abroad once per month on average for EU project meetings. Travelling abroad is really nice and interesting, but it is also intensive – nine out of ten times I am the chair for INNEN’s part in the project. Apart from that it can be pretty time consuming as well. Why are those project meetings always in the middle of nowhere? I was in Jyväskylä (Finland) in January this year, which is 270 kilometers north of Helsinki and on top of that it was freezing cold with minus 20 degrees! I had a similar experience in June when I had to travel to Kozani (Greece), which is two hours from Thessaloniki. But I’m not complaining: each experience and every journey adds value to my CV. 😀

I don’t have to travel abroad this week. So, I take full advantage of this relative calm. I normally work on the GIANCE-project on Tuesdays. It focuses on developing sustainable multifunctional materials through graphene technology to address environmental challenges. We have a bi-weekly meeting. INNEN is a partner in this project and responsible for dissemination, communication and exploitation activities by leveraging Wheesbee data.

What truly relaxes me after a long day at the office is coming home and cooking something delicious just for myself. As a true Italian, I have a passion for good food and wine!

You can check out my recipes on my Instagram profile @silvyolella.”

Wednesday

“I normally work from my flat in Rome on Wednesdays. Wednesday is for the R3GROUP project, which seeks to create resilient, rapidly reconfigurable production process chains. In this project INNEN’s main role is about customizing WheesBee for the integration of data-driven analytics. INNEN is at the forefront of developing state-of-the-art tools to help decision-makers predict and respond to market shifts. Here, I bring to the table my expertise in digitalization, market analysis, and consulting developed over ten years of experience within PNO Group.

In the evening, I go swimming. I prefer the swimming pool in Arce, but the pool in Rome is nearby my flat so it is very convenient, and swimming is healthy no matter what. After the sport and a quick dinner, I jump on an alignment call with Donne 4.0, an association I’m proud to be part of!

We are all about promoting the UN’s 5th goal from the 2030 Agenda—gender equality—and we work to raise awareness among women (and everyone else) about how technology can be a game-changer for personal and professional growth. I handle the external communications committee, where we brainstorm and strategize on how to spread the word in the best way possible. (I am on the second top row, fourth from left).”

Thursday

“I usually work from our office in Rome on Thursdays. I regularly consult with my colleagues during weekly team meetings or as needed to ensure we are aligned on project updates. For urgent matters, I use instant messaging tools or emails. But when in the office, as I am today, I prefer face-to-face discussions to resolve issues more efficiently.

Today we have a project meeting about a big project that is on our IT roadmap, which is a completely new version of Matchpoint/Innovation Place including a new CRM. I am also involved in the redesign of the PNO logo and website. I take every opportunity to explore the group’s accelerated and continuous digitalization processes. The new PNO website is a big project as well. Today we have also a progress meeting on that.

After work we have a team-building activity which is really fun, because tonight we are going to have pizza and beers.”

“Best part of the day!”

Friday

“I go to Arce on Friday morning by car for the weekend. Luckily, I didn’t drink too much last night. But before it is weekend, I have a working day ahead of me. On Fridays I dedicate my time to the ELECTRA project. The project aims to electrify high-temperature and flexible technologies for the cement, lime, and pulp industries. I am responsible for the dissemination activities.

In the evening, I go swimming. I always feel refreshed after swimming, ready for the weekend! Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with friends and family. Apart from swimming I love hiking, going to the cinema, theatre, music concerts and reading. Just in the summer of 2024 alone, I managed to catch live performances from Smile, Slowdive, James Blake, CCCP, Vinicio Capossela, and Avishai Cohen… quite the lineup! Each show brought something unique to me: Smile’s infectious energy, Slowdive’s dreamy waves of sound, and James Blake’s soulful, otherworldly vocals. Then there was CCCP, an electric burst of Italian punk nostalgia, Capossela’s poetic storytelling that felt like stepping into another world, and Avishai Cohen’s hypnotic jazz that left the crowd spellbound. What a season for live music! Staying active is important to me, and I also enjoy weekend activities, whether it is spending time outdoors or exploring new places.”

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