Drivers in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will be competing on the Adriatic coast for the first time.

After five visits to Rome, the all-electric racing series ventures across Italy this season for two races at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. The fast and flowing permanent track features 14 turns and is sure to result in a lot of wheel-to-wheel action over each 3.381km lap.

Gianluca Lilli, ABB Electrification Commercial Leader, ABB Italy, said: “It’s great for the series to be held in a different area of Italy, showcasing the excitement and potential of electrification to a new set of fans. The championship, where energy management is a key aspect of racing, is particularly fitting here in Italy where ABB solutions are helping to reduce energy use and improve efficiency across numerous sectors.” 

Tourism is one of the largest industries in Italy, contributing around €200bn to the economy every year^[1]. ABB provides a range of technology to various different projects within the sector to help it become more sustainable. One example is the Le Fucine hotel in Buttrio, north-west Italy, where ABB has collaborated with owners the Danieli Group to integrate technology that increases both guest comfort and the hotel’s energy efficiency. ABB solutions were chosen for the automation and control of lighting and air conditioning, creating a system that allows remote management with optimized energy consumption and reduced energy costs.

Further south, in Tuscany, the Adler Spa Resort Thermae in Bagno Vignoni has also turned to ABB to improve energy efficiency across its utilities, from pumping units and resistors to distribute the hot water and steam, to electricity distribution to guest rooms and communal areas. ABB's intelligent switches together with the ABB Ability™ Energy and Asset Manager platform allow real-time monitoring of the structure's consumption, even remotely, allowing for optimized energy use, significant economic savings, and a reduction in environmental impact.

In addition to saving energy, ABB implements technology to further protect and preserve resources. SEVal, an Italian recycling and waste disposal company, wanted to automate a process to test used modems so that they can be reused by new customers. A solution was developed using with ABB robots to test the modems, reset functioning devices, and allow the robot to package them directly. Recycling these devices to enable them to be put back into use avoids sending them to landfill, eliminating the creation of added waste and saving the need to consume the additional energy and materials needed to produce new modems.  

ABB is also working to improve sustainability in its own operations in Italy. The ABB Smart Building production site in Santa Palomba, where over 15 million modular switches are produced per year, has obtained Mission to Zero™ factory recognition. Mission to Zero™ is the ABB program that defines a path towards carbon neutrality, and which is aligned with the Group's objectives to reduce scope 1 and 2 CO₂emissions by 80% for ABB production sites by 2030 and 100% by 2050 compared to 2019.

In addition to providing technological solutions to help meet sustainability goals, ABB is working to develop the next generation of leaders and innovators. For more than 20 years, ABB Italy has been training students in technical, digital and entrepreneurial skills, beyond those learned in a conventional classroom environment, under the ‘ABB4Education’ banner. This encompasses three main areas:

• Entrepreneurial education with Junior Achievement - A global non-profit organization that promotes economic-entrepreneurial education in schools. Projects in secondary schools are supported by ABB Dream Coaches. These ABB volunteers mentor students and encourage them to compete for the ABB Impresa 5.0 Award, which rewards digital entrepreneurial skills
   
• Robotics Education – Throughout Italy, ABB provides training opportunities to secondary school students to acquire skills relating to the design of robotic cells and programming of industrial robots/cobots. This project includes the ABB RoboCup challenge in which more than 2,000 students have participated since 2019 and which received recognition from the Education Ministry as an official competition for schools in Italy
   
• Digital&Green - These workshops are designed to encourage middle school students to consider sustainability and STEM-related careers. By using ABB role models to talk about how their jobs contribute to sustainability, students gain understanding of how technology and electrification are changing lifestyles. Digital&Green aims to reach 10,000 students across Italy

In 2023 alone, ABB Italy reached around 20,000 students in Italy through such projects in education and collaborations with various partners. 

More information on ABB’s sustainability-related technology in Italy can be found on our Race For the Energy Transition web pages.

Following the race in Misano, the Championship returns to the legendary streets of Monaco on April 27. The season calendar comprises 16 races in 10 global locations, including additional new venues of Tokyo and Shanghai.

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