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Floating concept

capital investors. This expertise is not available in- snapshots of as-build and reporting in live the con-
side Saipem, but is very important to have a com- struction progress… Finally, third focus area is rela-
prehensive view about non-technological aspects. ted to diversification of Saipem’s businesses. Here
In other words, sometimes we may be “in love” we talk about Renewables and Infrastructures. We
with startup’s innovative technology, but the team are already present in both segments, but there is
or business model behind it are not fully suitable for a strong ambition to grow, especially in emerging
collaboration. Mind The Bridge, via so-called “sca- niches. Floating wind and solar, hydrogen, smart
leup summits”, connect us to the most prominent cities, just to name few”.
innovation centers - San Francisco, London, Tel-
Aviv. During these events we meet in 1:1 format And how are you pursuing this from Saipem’s
carefully pre-selected startups, and also exchange organizational point of view?
experiences and lessons learned with peer compa- “Various organizational changes have occurred
nies who are also active in open innovation. Lastly, in our divisional organizations in order to better
Polytechnic of Milan is our traditional trusted R&D catch the opportunities in the “Energy Transition”
partner. Their extension into the world of startups business; the Onshore division created the ‘New
scouting, with particular focus on Italian ecosy- Energies’ business line since the last year, while the
stem, complements the overall open innovation Offshore division created a new business line na-
agenda of Saipem”. med ‘Renewables’.
On the other side, in 2017 we launched the new
What are the critical issues, now? division, named XSIGHT, dedicated to high added-
“If we talk about critical issues, that we try to ad- value engineering services. One of the main objec-
dress by innovation, I would group them in three tives is just that of strengthening activities in the
categories. First is related to decarbonization of Oil decarbonization business, i.e. biofuel /bio mass,
& Gas Value chains. We actively develop new va- renewables, circular economy and CO2 manage-
lue propositions to assist our Clients to minimize ment”.
overall emissions from their plants, either already in
operation or planned for future. We have all seen More specifically, you are heading the ‘Inno-
latest “net-zero” announcements by major compa- vation Factory’ of Saipem – tell us more about
nies, so you can imagine that every ton of GHG it.
emissions, direct and indirect, will count from now “I can talk a lot about the Factory because I obser-
on. Of course, our Clients can identify promising ved its inception, then had the luck to be one of the
technologies directly, and they often do. But the role innovators, and finally was invited to lead it. Having
of EPC contractors as solutions integrators should seen many incubators, accelerators, hubs of other
not be underestimated. Second issue is an intere- companies, I can confidently say that Saipem’s in-
sting one, because it is related to one of our strong novation factory is quite unique for several reasons.
sides – historically largest portfolio of major capital Firstly, we do not outsource innovation, even par-
projects. This means that for coming years we will tially. We let our people innovate, albeit for a certain
have to manage a gigantic volume of construction period and part-time. In this way we ‘unleash’ our
activities. We are experts of this, but we also want brightest minds, at the same time keeping feet firm
to know which innovative technologies can help us on the ground and finding best ways to implement
to do this activity even better. Imagine drones with internal and external mega-ideas. Secondly, we
3D cameras flying around construction site, taking combine working on specific topics of strategic im-

Impiantistica Italiana - Settembre-Ottobre 2020 19 19