Romano Volta (born 15 February 1937) is an Italian businessman who is the

executive chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and founder of

Datalogic Datalogic S.p.A. is an Italian company working in the automatic data capture and process automation markets. The group specializes in the design and production of barcode readers, mobile computers, radio-frequency identification, sensors for dete ...

, an Italian company manufacturing

barcode reader A barcode reader is an optical scanner that can read printed barcodes, decode the data contained in the barcode to a computer. Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of a light source, a lens and a light sensor for translating optical impulses into e ...

mobile computers Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage, which allows for the transmission of data, voice, and video. Mobile computing involves mobile communication, mobile hardware ...

radio-frequency identification Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

, sensors for detection, and other electronic equipment.

Early life

Born in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, Romano Volta graduated with a degree in

electronic engineering Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current ...

''cum laude'' from the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

. In the early 1970s, after a period as a professor at the Aldini Valeriani Technical Institute, Volta was a junior assistant to professor Giuseppe Evangelisti at the

, at the heart of what is known as the "Packaging Valley", where most of the Italian companies that produce packaging machines are based. Professor Evangelisti was asked by some entrepreneurs to develop electronic optical devices to automate specific verification processes such as the centering of brands on packaging, the positioning of print, or the presence of a tablet in a blister pack. Volta was put in charge of this task and began to develop a new device called a "color mark reader" to detect slight differences in contrast on packaging material; this device is still installed today in all packaging machines. His ability to combine optics with electronics, providing check processing and verification equipment electronically integrated into the machine in a unique solution, quickly made Volta well known in the sector. He then founded a company called "Datalogic Optic Electronics". Some years later, with the introduction of bar code systems, Volta began the development of the optical devices that became known as

Datalogic Optic Electronics

Having started the development of barcode readers, Volta left his position at the University of Bologna to focus on his business initiative. He transferred from a small laboratory to a factory based in Lippo di Calderara, near the

Bologna airport Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport ( it, Aeroporto di Bologna-Guglielmo Marconi) is an international airport serving the city of Bologna in Italy. It is approximately northwest of the city centre in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The airpo ...

. In 1972, Datalogic was officially founded. In 1974, at a

Marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

supermarket in

Troy, Ohio Troy is a city in and the county seat of Miami County, Ohio, Miami County, Ohio, United States, located north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton. The population was 26,305 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the largest city in Miami Cou ...

, a pack of

Wrigley's The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational chewing gum (Wrigley's gum) company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois. Wrigley's is wholly owned by Mars, In ...

chewing gum was the first retail product sold using a counter-top barcode scanner, the Magellan Model-A (now exhibited at the

Smithsonian Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in Washington, D.C.) by PSC, a company later acquired by Datalogic. In the 1980s, Datalogic established itself as one of the major European companies for industrial applications, manufacturing the first industrial scanner in 1978. Datalogic also pioneered the design of baggage handling systems for airports, installing the first scanner at

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Linate Airport Milan Linate Airport is the third international airport of Milan, the second-largest city and largest urban area of Italy, behind Malpensa Airport and Orio al Serio Airport. It served 9,233,475 passengers in 2018, being the fifth busiest airp ...

in 1984. Today, Datalogic is an international company, quoted on the FTSE Italia STAR segment of the Italian stock exchange as DAL.MI. since 2001.

Other ventures

Volta is President of Aczon Srl, a company founded in 2001 that operates in the fields of pharmaceutical research, biotechnology, and oncology; Chairman of Hydra S.p.A, an industrial

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

owned by the Volta family; and majority shareholder of Datalogic S.p.A; with additional interests in the real estate and financial fields. From September 1998 to October 2004, he served as President of the Associazione Industriali (Industrial Association) of Bologna, and he was a member of the board of directors of

Sanpaolo IMI Sanpaolo IMI S.p.A. was an Italian banking and insurance conglomerate, based in Turin. It employed about 44,000 people and had about 7 million customers. On 24 August 2006 a merger with Banca Intesa was announced, which on 1 December 2006 was app ...

Fondi Chiusi SGR S.p.A. * Member of the

Confindustria The General Confederation of Italian Industry ( it, Confederazione generale dell'industria italiana), commonly known as Confindustria, is the Italy, Italian employers' federation and national chamber of commerce, founded in 1910. It groups togeth ...

National Council * Member and Deputy Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation in Bologna * Vice President of the

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

group of the

Cavaliere del Lavoro The Order of Merit for Labour ( it, Ordine al Merito del Lavoro) is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 1923 by King Vittorio Emanuele III. It is awarded to those "who have been singularly meritorious" in agriculture, industry and ...

* Member of the Advisory Council of the

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

of Bologna * Member of the board of directors of the

Marconi Society The Guglielmo Marconi International Fellowship Foundation, briefly called Marconi Foundation and currently known as The Marconi Society, was established by Gioia Marconi Braga in 1974 to commemorate the centennial of the birth (April 24, 1874) of he ...

* Member of the board of directors of IMA S.p.A in

Ozzano dell'Emilia Ozzano dell'Emilia (; Eastern Bolognese: ) is an Italian ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, in northern Italy. History Its origins date back to the Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλ ...

(BO), a company operating in pharmaceutical packaging machines * President of the electrotechnical and electronic production section of Unindustria (Industrialist and Enterprises Association) Bologna. From 1 June 2018, he has been President of the Confindustria Emilia "Electronics and Mechatronics" supply chain for the four-year period 2018–2022. He was president of the Fortitudo Basket team in the 1998–99 season.

Awards and acknowledgements

On 29 May 1997, he was awarded the title of "

" by the

President of the Italian Republic President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. According to ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...

'' in 2016, Volta was listed in 48th place in a list of the top-performing Italian CEOs.

Personal life

Romano Volta is married, with three children. He is passionate about boating and skiing.

External links

The heritage of Guglielmo Marconi: Romano Volta

Datalogic website

"I primi 40 anni del codice a barre"
article from ''

Il Sole 24 Ore ''Il Sole 24 Ore'' () is an Italian national daily business newspaper owned by Confindustria, the Italian employers' federation. History and profile ''Il Sole 24 Ore'' was first published on 9 November 1965 as a merger between ''Il Sole'' ("the ...

''
«LETTURE/ Industria 4.0, prima dei robot viene la rivoluzione culturale»

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volta, Romano 1937 births Living people 20th-century Italian engineers Businesspeople from Bologna Italian chairpersons of corporations Italian electrical engineers Engineers from Bologna Recipients of the Order of Merit for Labour