A couple of weeks ago the vice-president of Tuscany Stella Targetti paid a visit to Enel’s research centres in Pisa and Livorno. This wasn’t a casual visit, as Targetti is also head of regional policy for higher education, relations between universities and research centres, promotion of scientific research and coordination of research activities in a number of areas.
Her first stop was Pisa, the Group’s research headquarters. There, alongside head of the Technical Research Area Sauro Pasini, she visited the chemical laboratory, the monitoring room of its generation park and the Triangle-based Omni-purpose Building (TOB ), a new system of generating electricity in isolated places that will help bringing energy to some of the most remote areas on the planet.
Afterwards they took a trip few miles down the road to Livorno, where Targetti saw small-scale biomass and geothermal plants, as well as Zero Accident Project (ZAP) cyber security initiatives, which keep the workplace and IT systems safe.
Enel’s scientific research isn’t restricted to Tuscany however: its network of centres, laboratories and experimental areas covers the whole of Italy and includes more than 200 highly specialised research staff. It’s considered one of Europe’s major energy research centres in terms of facilities and equipment , and it takes part in important, Europe-wide programmes for the mobility of researchers, as well as working with the most important research bodies, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Speaking of research and universities it is also worth mentioning that at the request of numerous Italian universities, the deadline for Energy for Knowledge has been extended to the end of the month. This initiative, which is the result of a collaboration with the Enel Foundation and the Fondanzione CRUI, the foundation for Italian University Rectors, offers 20 study grants worth €15,000 each for work on renewable energy, the economic impact of energy production and CSR.
Enel is convinced that in the future the energy industry must promote the gaining of scientific knowledge and sustainable development, and that’s is why Enel created Energy for Knowledge. This is another example of someone in Italy believing in research as the engine that drives development not only of science, but also of the economy, and is will to back that belief up with its time, energy and money. That someone is Enel.
