39
Our commitment to innovation and the development of new
products with a reduced environmental impact stems from
the conviction that this is the only way to guarantee economic
sustainability over the long term. Such a commitment is
essential in order to assure well-being and the quality of life in
today’s society and for future generations. For the Prysmian
Group, sustainability in fact means offering customers
technologically innovative solutions at ever more competitive
prices.
The commitment of the Prysmian Group to Research and
Development continued in 2013, with the investment of about
Euro 68 million at out 17 centres of excellence. Efforts to
optimise costs also continued. The package of DTC (Design
to Cost) projects has been expanded even further and now
counts more than 1,500 projects. This effort, together with the
rationalisation of mixtures and the better use of materials,
has enabled the Group to obtain additional, significant cost
savings.
Sustainability is a constant focus for the Prysmian Group, in
step with the times and the markets in order to assure long-
term leadership and constant improvements. Sustainability
is not only a prerogative of the research carried out in the
ReseaRCh, deVelopMent and innoVation
more developed countries, but also of that performed in the
emerging countries, where energy costs are rising and access
to energy sources remains unstable. In addition, the Group’s
engineers employ advanced tools to validate the performance
of our cables and simulate applications, even before any
prototypes are made. This process helps to maximise the
use of laboratory time, for example by avoiding unnecessary
repetitions, and therefore reduce the consumption of
materials and energy.
Prysmian can count on long-established relationships with
major universities and research centres including, in Italy,
the Polytechnic University in Milan, the University of Pavia,
the National Research Centre (CNR) and the Bruno Kessler
Foundation in Trento, as well as the Delft University in the
Netherlands, the University of Catalunya in Spain, and the
USP Politecnica and the National Centre for Nanotechnologies
in Brazil. In North America, Prysmian is an honorary member
of NEETRAC (National Electric Energy Testing Research and
Applications Center) at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Collaboration with the universities is strategic for Prysmian,
keeping the Group constantly updated on all social issues and
accessing the most advanced technologies available to the
scientific community.
