Terna: the new corporate entrepreneurship programme on innovation goes live

Sustainability takes a key role in the criteria used to assess initiatives

TERNA: THE NEW CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PROGRAMME ON INNOVATION GOES LIVE

The Italian national grid operator has launched the second edition of "Terna Ideas", the corporate entrepreneurship programme aimed at the Group's personnel

In the update to the Driving Energy 2021-2025 Business Plan, Terna has earmarked € 1.2 billion of investments for innovation and digitalisation

Rome, 8 April 2022 - After the success of last year, Terna has launched the new edition of "Terna Ideas", the corporate entrepreneurship programme aimed at promoting the corporate culture of innovation and identifying technological solutions to consolidate its role as driver and enabler of the energy transition.

One of the main new features in 2022 is sustainability, which has been given a more central role and is one of the key and transversal criteria for both for proposals and in the assessment process. "Terna Ideas" will concentrate on three new challenges and aims to stimulate ideas on the evolution of training and method of work; more efficient grid management through digital tools and data optimisation; and solutions that consolidate the Group's commitment to the circular economy. Terna will support the winning initiatives, transforming them into real-life projects able to create value for the company and beyond.

"Terna Ideas" puts the Group's personnel first, offering workers the possibility to express themselves as entrepreneurs, encouraging their potential and promoting creativity and skills. This is part the strategy adopted by Terna which, in order to achieve its sustainability targets through innovation, is based on an Open Innovation approach, welcoming contributions from the external innovation ecosystem, such as start-ups, universities and research centres, as well as from its own personnel, through active and participatory engagement. In fact, "Terna Ideas" represents a training programme on the key concepts and tools of innovation and is open to the entire company workforce.

This approach is consistent with Terna's vision in which technological and cultural innovation are among the founding pillars of its business. To respond to the growing complexity of the electricity system, characterised increasingly by renewable sources, in the update to the 'Driving Energy' 2021-2025 Industrial Plan the company headed by Stefano Donnarumma has earmarked approximately € 1.2 billion of investments - out of a total € 10 billion - for innovation and digitalisation. In particular, Terna will focus on technologically advanced solutions for the remote management of substations and transmission infrastructure, thanks to the use of sensors, monitoring and diagnostic systems, predictive management tools, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, aimed at improving the security, reliability and resilience of the electricity networks and providing benefits for local communities.

The first edition of the programme in 2021 involved the entire company workforce, with participation from 400 people, the publication of 143 ideas and the launch of a development programme for the top three initiatives. Moreover, last year the "Terna Ideas" project received the "Smau Innovation Award", a recognition of Italian businesses' drive for innovation awarded to companies that have brought a concrete innovative element to their business.