We are committed every day to promoting research and development activities, with the aim of implementing and furthering innovative, smart services for Group processes and for the community.
In 2020, we started a Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) project in the spheres of the circular economy, energy transition, mobility and new technologies for the cities of the future. The Group’s CVC scheme has seen the setting up of an investment fund dedicated to A2A thanks to the participation of 360 Capital, one of Europe’s leading venture capital companies and to involvement in the Poli360 fund linked to the Politecnico di Milano, which leverages both the Technology Transfer Office and the Polihub incubator.
Having fully completed the experimentation phase last year, many of the start-ups in the investment portfolio since 2020 are now being assessed for further applications so as to move the technology forward to the scale-up phase.
Furthermore, in 2021, thanks to participation in the Eureka! venture capital fund managed by Eureka! Venture SGR, and to the partnership with 29 universities and scientific research centres in Italy, we have also extended the initiative to start-ups and innovative SMEs in the sector of advanced materials, applications and technologies related to the science and engineering of materials
Superando pienamente la fase di sperimentazione dello scorso anno, molte delle startup che si trovano all’interno del portfolio di investimenti dal 2020 sono ora in fase di valutazione per ulteriori applicazioni per portare la tecnologia in fase di scale-up.
Nel 2021 inoltre, grazie all’adesione al fondo di venture capital “Eureka !” gestito da EUREKA! Venture SGR, e alla partnership con 29 università e centri di ricerca scientifica in Italia, abbiamo esteso la sua iniziativa anche a startup e PMI innovative nel settore degli advanced materials, applicazioni e tecnologie riconducibili alla scienza ed ingegneria dei materiali.
Some 2021 numbers
190
Initiatives included in the Digital Transformation Plan
540
Projects presented in the first Corporate Intrapreneurship scheme involving Group employees.
3,400
Electrical substations equipped with fibre optic cabling
Actions
A2A for the Smart City
In 2021, A2A Smart City continued its fibre optic cabling activities in support of Unareti’s Smart Grid project, connecting 500 new electrical substations (for a total of 3,400) and, for the first time, also 50 gas substations. During the year, a contract was signed for the implementation of an advanced video analysis system with 35 cameras installed in Milan’s Biblioteca degli Alberi (BAM – Library of Trees) park. The system uses blurring technology so as to ensure park-goers’ privacy but, at the same time, to allow analysis of the movement of people inside the park. The system is thus useful in optimizing pathways and ensuring that areas are organized on the basis of their effective use.
In the sphere of action taken to improve air quality in outdoor areas, in the final months of 2021, A2A Smart City signed an agreement with a world leader in the purification filter sector. This type of solution is highly advanced and enables the creation of ‘bubbles’ of clean air in areas where people are likely to remain for some time, such as railway and underground stations, bus terminals and play areas for families. A2A Smart City will distribute this solution, not currently present in Italy, to promote the sustainability of the air with a proactive service of cleansing and enhancement of the resource.
Call for ideas
The year 2021 saw the conclusion of the first Corporate Intrapreneurship scheme for all of the Group’s workforce: 3,000 employees, 540 projects and eight finalist teams. The call was organized in the three phases of submission, development and final selection. Among the finalists were EV Smart Parking, which involves the installation of electric car charging columns that can potentially be located anywhere in the city, and Teleriscaldamento Zero, which planned a fifth-generation natural-temperature district heating network based on the recovery of surplus energy from the Brescia Nord power station.
The winner, Blu Energy, will be able to count on a budget of 50,000 euros to start a technical-economic plant feasibility study for the generation of renewable saline gradient power. This energy is obtained by means of the reverse electrodialysis process that makes it possible to produce electricity by bringing into contact two water solutions with differing levels of salinity and controlling the movement of ions with special membranes.
Hydrogen
During 2020, we developed a study that set out to identify sites most suitable for an integration of existing renewable source electricity production facilities with hydrogen production units. The project involved the identification of a pilot plant and the development of a technical-economic feasibility study for broad-reaching decarbonization in Sardinia: the assessment of various supply configurations for green hydrogen, with production starting from a wind farm in the Oristano area with a 20 MW electrolyzer. Finally, the H2iseO plan entered its operational phase for the development of a production and supply system for green hydrogen, deriving from the renewable energy produced by the WtE facility in Brescia and destined for railway transport.