The roadshow dedicated to Emilia-Romagna businesses was opened by Fabio Storchi, President of Unindustria, Reggio Emilia, who had the honour of starting by talking about digital and ecological transition strategies. In Storchi’s opinion, despite the precarious and difficult geopolitical situation that Italia and the entire world are currently facing, due both to the pandemic and to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, process innovation and digitalization remains a fundamental factor for the recovery and consolidation of the productive fabric on a large scale.
Emilia-Romagna is still typically made up of small and medium very specialised enterprises which require dedicated services, a network of laboratories and entities specialised in technological transfer that offer companies instruments for achieving a greater awareness of their know-how, and which also offer, at reduced costs, the possibility of accessing technological innovation, both digital and with regards to economic and environmental sustainability.
The discussion of the second panel of the day was dedicated to sustainable mobility and to initiatives for supporting it: Giuseppe Corcione, CEO of Reinova, together with Valentina Orioli, Bologna City Councillor for Mobility and Alberto Viano, CEO of LeasePlan were present for this part.
Our CEO Giuseppe Corcione presented Reinova as a laboratory, an authentic incubator able to accompany clients in the sustainable transformation of modern means of transport and mobility. This must start from the current situation where, in fact, an industrial vision of a mobility culture, intended as a service for moving people, is missing. What are needed are suitable integrated digital solutions to drive consumer electronics in the interactions between people and the various choices of means of transport available. Notwithstanding the three characteristics of the vehicles of the near future (electric, connected and self-driven), it’s necessary to establish different dedicated solutions according to different transport needs. Hydrogen, for example, is simply a different battery energy carrier for all-electric traction, but with much higher energy efficiency compared to almost any other type of traditional motorization, diesel or petrol. The future development of solid-state batteries could be a further step, very important for electric traction, as could large capacitors also be.
Giuseppe Corcione also stated that “vehicle ownership will change”: we will travel, almost certainly, with shared means, from electric scooters to bicycles to car sharing, with public cars available for private use. The evolution of mobility will go towards dedicated means depending on the type of demand and the transport that the client needs. In addition, he affirmed that clients need to be accompanied in the adoption of sustainable solutions, not only from an environmental pointy of view, regarding gas emissions, but also from the point of view of noise and economic sustainability. Thanks to the innovation of digital technology, it will be possible to develop public transport on request, with “on demand” vehicles.
Self-driven cars will make people freer: Giuseppe Corcione gave the example of Giacosa, the designer of the historic Fiat 500, which gave numerous Italians the possibility of moving in freedom from point A to point B. Today moving around by car is often effectively a constraint, reducing freedom, given the limits of parking space and access to restricted zones in today’s cities. The self-driven car will give back free time to people who can then decide if to invest it in work or enjoy it with leisure activities and more rest. The technology of the self-driven car will be at the service of people.
It was then the turn of the CEO of LeasePlan, the company in the long-term hire sector, Alberto Viano, who presented the latest edition of LeasePlan’s research at European level, the “Electric Vehicle Readiness Index”, published a few days before, which shows how the growth in the circulation of electric cars increasingly points to a shortage of charging stations throughout Europe. With regards to Italy, the results for charging infrastructures are once more somewhat disappointing: Italy is at third-to-last position, and for the circulating fleet of electric cars it has climbed from 15th to 14th place.
With regards to electric mobility, the long-term rental market is making a significant contribution, with electric and hybrid plug-in cars accounting for more than 48% of sales contracts.
The contribution of the Bologna City Councillor was also very interesting: urban micro-mobility will be increasingly supported, promoting the use of modern cargo-bikes, with the characteristic of being agile and energetically efficient with zero emission. The development of this new market of vehicles could give rise to new opportunities for Emilia-Romagna businesses.
Finally, Giuseppe Corcione emphasised that, despite the current geopolitical context, it’s very important not to stop, but to incentivise a business energy “revolution” in order to compete at European level, considering this situation as a real opportunity for change and improvement, reducing energy costs through efficiency and the elimination of waste.
In this context, in which the charging infrastructure is extremely important for the spread of mobility with zero direct emissions, Reinova operates as a strategic consultant for making the right choice, supporting the needs and main economic activities of its partners.