Interview with Mr Fabio Velotti, president of UNIDI

Mr. Veloti, we are in Dubai at the AEEDC 2023, and this is not the first participation of the Italian dental industry association, the UNIDI as the representative of the Italian pavilion. So first of all, can you introduce yourself and introduce UNIDI to the dental world?

I am, Fabio Velotti, president of UNIDI (Italian Dental Industry Association) which is the association that unites all Italian manufacturers of dental products. The association counts more than 110 manufacturers, and 40 of them are here exhibiting at the AEEDC.

We do join altogether in the Italian Pavilion with the support of ICE. ICE is the international committee for export. So the Ministry is helping the association and the Italian industry to internationalize.

Regarding the market in the Middle East, for how long have you been doing business with this part of the world?

The Italian companies have been for a very long time in this part of the world in every country without exceptions, mainly equipments for the dental office and the laboratory, restoratives, and consumables.

I, myself, I'm doing business with this part of the world since the last 10 years, only because the company I lead, which is Pierrel, is a company, that is quite new in the international world. So we only started in 2012 with, internationalization. And, now we are selling into 33 Countries worldwide. And, in the Middle East we distribute in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Lebanon, Jordan and we are in the process of registration in the other countries.

What is new into the dental industry, Is there an evolution in the production of the new products?

I think many efforts are done in this field since years. The digital industry is going very quick. And this does not only apply for equipment, but also for materials. So the combination of the two sectors are joining together toward a common target, which is a digitalized dental workflow. And you can now see in every single spot of dental business; you see it in radiology, you see it in CAD-CAM in implants etc.

So you have more products combining together in the workflow, example for hygiene, for Implantology, and for aesthetics. All sectors of the dental industry are trying to put their piece into this workflow to really complete each other and make it work together. And this was driven by the dental business demand.

Dentists are more and more demanding a full service. They want a very easy workflow to follow from the beginning to the end. And to that, the industry is answering by providing products for each single piece of the Workflow.

Where is the Italian industry positioned into the digital dentistry offering?

Italy is a country based on medium and small industries. So, they are very flexible and they›re very quick in adapting, and in innovating the business. So if you look at the giant companies, maybe you can find in Germany, in the US or in Japan. But when you go to Italy, you find multiple number of companies, each one specializes into a specific field. Small companies, very reactive and innovating a lot. As a matter of fact, Italy is nowadays the second biggest market, as far as for the production of dental products in Europe, just immediately after Germany. But, the way Italy is responding to the worldwide dental market is by creating new businesses, new companies and not yet aggregation of companies, but this is also a benefit when there are, complicated situations like in the pandemic period.

I thank you very much and have a good Show.