It is just as well for Giorgio Ronchi that the title of "engineer" stands for a lot more in his native Italy than it does in other parts of the world. Since joining IBM in 1965, it is a title that has taken him from from punch card technology to third-generation mobile data systems.

And the engineer from Gavirate in the Italian Lakes has risen to be chairman of technology venture capital group ETF, with $250m invested across 60 companies. ETF's headquarters are just 40km from Gavirate, across the Swiss border at Lugano.

But this career was not what the silver-haired Mr Ronchi had in mind 36 years ago. "I thought I would be an engineer all my life," he says. "Now people think I am a financier. But I am really just a palin nuts and bolts guy."

It is, perhaps, this thorough grasp of basics that has seen Mr Ronchi through the internet boom without losing millions of dollars on inflated shares.

Moving from IBM to Memorex, he acquired a reputation for turning around ailing operations within sprawling corporations. This gradually took him further and further from home, culminating in a posting to Venezuela.

There he was under instructions to shut Memorex's loss-making operation down. But he managed to reverse the flow of cash out of the business and turn it into a profitable enterprise. "I started out wanting to close it, but instead it became a bank!"

Asked for the secret of these numerous rescue missions Mr Ronchi is modest. "You just work very closely with the people in place, and give them the space to make their own decisions."

Reclining in ETF's London boardroom, Mr Ronchi's personal style is far removed from the staid image of the Anglo-Saxon investment banker. He is unusual for combining a historical perspective on the entire technology sector with a genuinely genial smile.

Mr Ronchi gives the clear impression of being a man who enjoys his job, even when it throws very unexpected events in his way. He led the then biggest management buy-out in the computer industry, the $623m acquisition of Memorex from Burroughs in 1986.

Twelve months later he was involved in planning the acquisition of Telex to form Memorex Telex. His initial presentation to 45 US banks was aimed at raising $1.2bn. But it took place on Black Monday 1987. "I did not have a lot of attention that day," Mr Ronchi cheerfully recalls. He later gathered $2.5bn to bring in Telex.

Although one of his subsequent deals involved buying and then selling the rights to the Ducati brand on white goods and mechanical parts, his heart was always in the IT world, and in 1999 he started ETF. At the time the initials stood for European Technology and Finance, but as Japanese and then Asian arms were added it was decided to drop regional labels.

His meetings with venture capitalists had convinced Mr Ronchi that too many potential investors focused only on a domestic market. Insularity was especially marked in California. His aim was to roam across the global technology markets supporting businesses that had the potential for rapid expansion.

The two features that appeal to ETF and Mr Ronchi are people and management. This explains why dotcoms have never featured highly in any ETF portfolio.

One internet-related venture Mr Ronchi is intensely proud of is Peramon Technology, a UK-based wireless internet company. Despite current market reservations Mr Ronchi has high hopes for the mobile internet sector. "This is about enabling technologies, not dotcoms," he says. ETF holds 8 per cent of Peramon. "I wish we had more of that company," says Mr Ronchi.

Based in a converted cowshed in the English countryside some 40 miles west of London, Peramon has sold its Wap (Wireless application protocol) gateway to News International's BSkyB satellite TV service.

Not every ETF intervention has been an unqualified success. Mr Ronchi lists seven occasions when he has been forced to "exit", to sell the participation. Some of these were written down as losses.

There is no common characteristic to unsuccessful ventures, says Mr Ronchi, but he is remarkably generous in apportioning blame. "In some cases there was mismanagement in the company, but the blame must also lie with us at ETF. We should have been controlling the company better."

ETF exerts control through its own advisory board. If experience is critical to management, ETF has no shortage of this vital element. One member of the advisory board is Robert C Wilson, the 81-year-old former chief executive of Memorex. "He is an incredible guy," says Mr Ronchi, and in describing the contribution Mr Wilson makes he reveals a lot about his own energy. "His drive is inside," says Mr Ronchi, touching his own heart. "His mind is younger than that of a 40-year-old man."

ETF itself is prepared to float, but only when market conditions make sense. Mr Ronchi views markets as emotional beings, and notes that banks are very inconsistent in their predictions of the future. "ETF intends to go public very soon, but it does depend on the market. I hope we here can approach the float not just from a selfish point of view, but from a rational point of view."

Mr Ronchi's distrust of get-rich-quick schemes is evident. His travel itinerary is hectic, and has recently taken him around Israel's fast-developing IT scene. "It is incredible there, the strong technologies are wireless and broadband communications, and the quality is outstanding."

He has often visited the US on Concorde but, unlike other supersonic travellers who seek status through association with this hugely expensive service, Mr Ronchi has an economic argument for the flight. "I have flown Concorde many times, but always with a business class ticket, I have never paid the full fare." Mr Ronchi has thrashed out a special deal with Air France that means ETF never faces a first class fare.

With a daughter working as a psychologist and living in London Mr Ronchi divides most of his time between the UK and Switzerland. He shows no urge to retire. "Three years from now it will be very interesting to look back at this period in business," he says. Mr Ronchi gives every impression of enjoying the responsibilities of raising and investing capital in the most volatile industrial sector there is.