From March 20 to 23, SPRING organised a study visit in Italy of the delegation of the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation (IBF) in the frame of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 and the RuralBioUp project, where SPRING and IBF are involved as partners.

The visit started on march 20 at the headquarters of SPRING in Cariplo factory – Milan with an overview of the Cluster and its members active in the italian bioeconomy, followed by the presentation of IBF and the irish delegates in order to learn more about each other and foster new partnerships.

On March 21 and 22, Irish delegates had the opportunity to visit some Italian companies and deepen their active role in the bioeconomy to enable the exchange of experiences and best practices.

Novamont is a world’s leading company in the sector of bioplastics and biochemicals obtained through the integration of chemistry, environment and agriculture. Novamont promotes a new model of bioeconomy in the logic of the circular economy, not only based on efficiency and sustainable use of renewable resources, but also as a factor for territorial regeneration. 

The delegation had the opportunity to find out more about Novamont’s bio-economy model, deepen its innovation projects and visit the research and development laboratories.

Fiat Research Center conducts collaborative research initiatives at the national and international levels in partnership with all the key public and private stakeholders concerned with sustainable mobility, targeting specifically the industrial exploitation of research. 

The irish delegation discovered more about their ambitious decarbonization strategy and visited the laboratories.

SMAT Group is a leader company in the field of integrated water service where it operates through the design, construction and management of diversified sources of water supply, technologically advanced purification plants, purification and reuse plants for urban waste water, collection networks, purification and reuse and cogeneration plants and energy recovery.

The delegation had the opportunity to visit the wastewater treatment plant in Turin.

Environment Park is a green campus that covers an area of 30,000 square metres and hosts around 70 companies, several open access research facilities and some communal areas. The Technology Park is constantly evolving and its spaces have become a campus where companies and research centres coexist, in a place where sustainability can be experienced. 

The irish group received a tour of the biomass valorisation facilities.

Sea Marconi: international company leader in the life cycle management (LCM) of Transformers and insulating Oils and the Research of solutions servicing the Environment. The company operates in the key sectors of energy and the environment, with sustainable solutions for the management of transformers and other electrical equipment filled with insulating fluids. It was a great opportunity to find out more about the “Win&Win”bioeconomy strategy from Collegno community, the commitment of Sea Marconi on international research projects and visit the research and development laboratories.

With the presence of the mayor of Collegno Francesco Casciano, the event ended with a symbolic commitment by all to develop a joint bio-economy strategy starting from the community of Collegno.

ALL TOGETHER TO MAKE THE BIOECONOMY HAPPEN!