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STRATEGY

ticipated since its creation in the Frenchcompany ses. Saipem employed the key personnel sharing
Sabella Srl, one the pioneers of the development of the knowledge of the technology and acquired the
tidal stream devices (now we have a participation St. Félicien plant. After acquisition, Saipem kicked-
in the company of a bit less than 15%) . Founded off a phase of engineering optimization applying its
in 2008 by a consortium of small and medium in- know-how to target further reduction of Capex and
dustrial enterprises, it designs electricity production Opex in commercial scale plants”.
units from marine currents. In the same year 2008
Sabella installed the first tidal turbine in France. Most recently, we see also a thorough appro-
With the D10 turbine project of 1 MW power the ach to identify new promising and innovative
company was awarded several recognition prizes; start-ups, via cooperation with Aster Fab,
D10 is currently the only turbine to have injected the innovation consulting arm of the Global
its produced energy into the French national power Venture Capital Investor Aster; with Mind the
grid (Ushant) to date. Sabella currently has several Bridge, a global innovation consultancy spe-
ongoing initiatives in areas that include Southeast cialized in the development of a global en-
Asia (Philippines and Indonesia in particular), North trepreneurial ecosystem that brings together
America (Canadian Bay of Fundy) and more. Sai- startups and corporate companies; and ano-
pem is acting as the technology integrator to ensu- ther agreement with the Politecnico di Milano
re that it embraces a significant number of opportu- to join the Startup Intelligence Observatory.
nities together with Sabella and to deliver them with Could you tell us something about each one
the highest safety and quality standards”. of these initiatives?
“Today, even the most technological and complex
Whereas in the onshore business, your recent companies cannot afford not to leverage on ideas
agreement with the Canadian firm CO Solu- outside their organizations. When one company
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tions Inc. (CSI) follows the same pattern. Can decides to work on open innovation it has two main
you illustrate in more detail? tasks: finding great startups and implementing their
“As anticipated before, CO Solutions technology products inside its own businesses. I would not
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acquisition represents a brick more in our wide and want to judge which task is more difficult, but when
solid know-how in the field of carbon capture. In internal resources are limited it may be smarter to
this frame, Saipem has acquired the post-combu- allocate them to the implementation part, which re-
stion CO Capture technology, originally develo- quires deep insider’s knowledge, down to the level
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ped by the Canadian Company CO Solutions and of company unspoken culture. Meanwhile, the in-
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using an enzyme-accelerated aqueous solution of novation ecosystem includes a number of compa-
potassium carbonate as solvent for the CO . The nies offering scouting services, and they know very
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technology is more environmentally friendly than well how to efficiently and effectively find startups
state-of-the-art technologies using amine-based of specific interest.
solvents and regeneration at low temperature; It is worth to mention that agreements with na-
using hot water rather than steam as a thermal med partners were not signed suddenly. With each
carrier is another relevant advantage. The techno- of them we have worked together for 1-2 years,
logy has been demonstrated in a small commer- adapting to each other’s needs and ways of thin-
cial plant capturing 30 ton per day of CO from flue king. Currently, for us these three are the best,
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gas of a pulp paper mill in St. Félicien (Canada). although bringing quite different value. AsterFab
Captured CO is then used in near-by greenhou- helps us to see startups through the lens of venture
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Hexafloat AFLOWT project

18 18 Impiantistica Italiana - Settembre-Ottobre 2020