“Sustainability? A new digital and green ecosystem »- Corriere.it

Green technologies are not only a tool to make companies more efficient but must serve to create a sustainable social ecosystem in which greater efficiency is transferred to citizens in the form of benefits. Maximo Ibarra has a very clear concept of sustainability. He talked about it at the Il Verde e il Blu Festival in Milan, explaining how Engineering, the group whose CEO is helping to accelerate the green transition. Sustainability – explains the manager who in the past led Wind, Kpn in the Netherlands and Sky Italia – made up of a set of projects that must aim to bring our entire social ecosystem into balance. It must be a common and shared goal.

What do you mean by social ecosystem?
Today we live in a context where there are multiple relationships, many technologies and great trends from a geopolitical point of view. Changes that must be balanced through projects that make the world more sustainable. The enabling technologies that allow people to find a more equitable way of life, from the point of view of income and quality, become central.

Is it business that must lead the change?
Each company must do it on the basis of its skills and mission. Engineering’s task is to ensure that digital can help not only the green transition but also ensure that within these social ecosystems people can have access to the basic skills and technologies that can improve the quality of life.

In practice?
A concrete example, our “Home Energy” solution which disaggregates the users allowing measurement and efficiency of consumption. Thanks to technologies such as cloud, AI, big data, digital twin, Home Energia analyzes and enhances data by enabling services, creating concrete savings for the Public Administration, large companies, private users and also generating lower health emissions in the workplace. For Acquedotto Pugliese we have enabled a monitoring system of the entire pipeline that allows you to use the AI ​​in a predictive way to reduce losses, reduce maintenance costs and, consequently, bills. For me, sustainability also means more social equity. I am reminded of the support in Veneto or Puglia for the tracking of Covid patients during the pandemic or, for the Municipality of Bologna, the platform created to manage the waste collection: we have created an algorithm that made it possible to have precise information for the fight to evasion thus reducing the Tari to the citizens. We have provided our large-scale distribution customers with solutions that allow volunteers to distribute their shopping at home to less well-off or disabled people. Or for cooperatives, the distribution of excess fresh food avoiding waste.

How much does Engineering invest in technology?
We are investing around 40 million every year. We are engaged today on about 100 national and international projects and we have about 400 researchers dedicated only to emerging technologies such as the Metaverse or the digital twin on which we are strengthening our positioning through our research center in the United States, which we have strengthened by purchasing Movilitas, specialized in digital manufacturing. The digital twin allows you to create a virtual environment where a company can implement what it intends to do by simulating every possible scenario and problem in an extremely accelerated way. We are also very committed to quantum computing: we are among the founders of the national HPC research center that deals with big data and quantum computing within the Bologna technopole. Engineering is making a contribution not only in research but also for the birth of these centers that study the perspectives and applications of quantum computing.

There remains the problem of skills.
This is not just a problem for Italy, because it deals with specific skills that companies all over the world are looking for. The challenge today is played both on training and on the attractiveness of companies. Accelerating the digital transition also serves to attract skills.

How do you find them?
For Engineering, it is above all a theme of speed to keep pace, sometimes even further ahead, with respect to what is happening on the market in order to be more innovative and attractive for both customers and talents. We have created an Academy, a real Campus, with over 200 teachers and we provide almost 25,000 training days a year, covering 70% of employees.

Do universities help to form the necessary profiles?
We collaborate with universities, there are about 50 at the moment, to create training courses on innovative technologies. Public-private collaboration works very well, as does collaboration between companies to accelerate the technological transition, we have several underway. Through all these initiatives Engineering wants to become the Italian digital tech champion with a strong international vocation, because we are present in many countries with specific competence centers, in order to develop digital technologies and services starting from Italy in which innovation helps to create sustainable social ecosystems.