Sensors, data, cloud: how Cefriel takes companies into the future

Just one step, however, within a path that continues with the new business plan, Cefriel 2030, where the goals are much more ambitious.

"We are still working out the details," explains Venturi, "but I would say that as an order of magnitude we aim to at least double or triple our size in terms of revenues, pushing the accelerator on projects and involving more and more companies.

This activity, that of technology transfer, is worth 70% of revenues and will continue to be Cefriel's main focus.

"We see ourselves as problem solvers," explains Venturi, "and our strength is that we are able to draw not only on our in-house expertise but also on the network of our partners, the know-how of universities and research centres, designing solutions that are both effective and simple: technology should not be a new problem to be managed but a way to address existing needs.

The fields of application are diverse but the unifying element is digitalisation, both on the product and process side. Intelligent data management that can concern problems in urban networks, as in waste collection, or business activities, as is the case with Sdf's tractors, which, thanks to Cefriel, now have new apps and a cloud technology platform for data collection that can optimise field work and trace the digital identity card of each vehicle.

'Technology transfer is the key to present and future competitiveness,' explains Venturi, 'and from this point of view I think I can say that Italy needs ten structures like this to speed up the transition and maximise its benefits. Bodies directly connected to the world of research and capable of accelerating new applications in companies. As well as contributing to the reskilling of people'.

Training activities that, together with research, complete the schedule of activities in which Cefriel is engaged. Since last year Cefriel has been a benefit company, a structure that is in turn part of a dimensional growth path, necessary in the light of the new targets of the industrial plan, with the aim of bringing the current workforce (150 employees, mainly engineers) towards 200-250.

'Today we develop about 150 projects a year,' adds Venturi, 'but I believe there is an opportunity to work on economies of scale, extending the solutions we are able to implement to a larger number of companies. It is fundamental to bring SMEs closer to us in an increasingly systematic way, accelerating their innovation paths'.

Cefriel's targets are accompanied by a managerial reinforcement, which has already been concretised with the arrival of Alessandro DeBiasio, an expert in strategy, organisation and change management, who takes over the position of general manager, a figure not previously in the workforce. While Alfonso Fuggetta leaves his position as CEO and Scientific Director for a new, professional path. Iot, Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Cybersecurity are some of the key development strands of the activity, which for Cefriel is also embodied in the organisational design of innovation and data exchange processes within companies, another process strand that is bringing satisfaction and substantial contracts. Innovation that also brings benefits to institutions and public administrations, as witnessed by the diffusion of E015, the digital ecosystem developed for Expo and now spread among over 600 entities, which exchange data in a systematic and standardised manner, so as to make the most of the available information assets.

'It is an example of how the system can evolve and change for the better,' explains Venturi, 'and from this point of view we clearly feel a responsibility in this direction towards the country.