INSIGHT 2|2019

16 | Prysmian Group I N S I G H T FOCUS ON PRYSMIAN GROUP’S INNOVATION JOURNEY TOMAKE A BIG STEP FORWARD Prysmian Group is rolling out a new innovation process, and 2019 will be a very important year in this journey, explains Srinivas Siripurapu, EVP and Chief R&D Officer. There are three main reasons why. Firstly, the Group aims to improve its innovation track record in the three-to-five-year window. We already have an impressive track record for short-term innovation in terms of making products as efficient as possible, and we excel at long-term innovation because of the ability to look out at a five-to-ten-year horizon. The focus on improving near and mid- term innovation is customer driven, says Siripurapu. “We want to put ourselves in customers’ heads and shoes. We want to spend more time in the fieldwith our customers and understand how tomake our products work better for them”. Innovation, therefore, does not take place in an ivory tower or solely in a lab. The key to being customer driven is to understand end use and to think about how innovation can benefit the customer. FlexRibbon™, a recent successful example, came out of an understanding of how customers use Prysmian products. When it comes to innovation, the Group has a strong position in core technology platforms such as fire resistance, design modelling, material science and process technologies for both the Energy and A more global, customer-centred focus will keep our Group ahead, says Chief R&D Officer Siripurapu. Telecom Cables business divisions. It has a total of 5,627 patents worldwide. Investments across Prysmian Group on research, development and innovation during 2018 totalled around €105 million, confirming a strong commitment to sustainable growth over the long term. We are also positioned well for growth through innovation in emerging areas such as long-distance HVDC transmission networks, high-depth submarine cable systems, 5G/Internet of Things applications and autonomous driving. For longer-term innovation projects, the focus is on nanotechnology, surface science, sustainable materials and processes, fibre sensing and electronics. We’ve developed strong competencies in fibre sensing and electronics over the last decade. The main idea is to create intelligent cable systems that the customer can use to make decisions operationally, such as condition monitoring for failure prevention and preventive maintenance. The Group has launched Corporate Hangar, an innovation incubator to accelerate our open innovation efforts. Last year, this team contributed to 32 different projects in collaboration with various business units and functions of the Group. 2019 is an important year, secondly, because the integration with General Cable is benefiting R&D. “We arebecoming trulyglobal witha strongpresence of 25 R&D centres, close to our customers all over the 5,627 patents worldwide