A
company was set up in Budrio, in the Bologna area, that is now a global leader
in the field of volatile compound analysis. The company has been focusing on
“open innovation” before the term was even coined in the world of research.
Today, the company boasts 40 employees with an average age of 35 and a turnover
of €5 million which should reach €10 million over the next three years
according to estimates. For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Matteo
Monticelli, Managing Director of Pollution Analytical Equipment.
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
The greatest
intuitions are truly cutting edge as they are ahead of their time. This is what
happened to a sturdy Emilian company when it began as a start-up. The idea was
linked with controlling the hygiene in hospital working environments which, at
the time in the 1990s, was not discussed much. Yet it was precisely from this
intuition that Pollution was born in Budrio, a town of 18 thousand inhabitants
east of Bologna. It was here that the ocarina, the wind musical instrument, was
invented by Giuseppe Donati in 1836. And it is here that, one and a half
centuries later, a company was set up that provides instruments to analyse what
are known as volatile compounds, i.e. air analysis possible thanks to hi-tech
monitoring solutions. Anti-pollution equipment that served as protection
against chemical risks. It is a family business run by two brothers who share
an ambitious mission: to improve people’s quality of life. Easier said than
done. That is where the combination of market and scientific research come in.
“We always try to keep on top of market evolutions with technological
innovation. At the time, there was no culture regarding chemical pollution and
little attention was paid to the quality of work environments, so we based
innovation on the continuous monitoring of environments. Today, attention to
the environment is much more rooted, but there are still unresolved issues such
as the management of smells, not to mention the new opportunities linked to
green gases, which in fact see us involved in new technological challenges,”
illustrated Matteo Monticelli, Managing Director of Pollution and the second
generation running the company.
Company
profile. A family business, as we mentioned before. Because this unique
small-medium business began with his father Paolo, who was born in 1949 in
Copparo, in the Ferrara province. A powerhouse of ideas. A past as an employee,
who then became an entrepreneur. Multiple profiles in one person: Palo trained
in electronics and telephony, but soon made the switch to the medical sector.
There, something changed, as Monticelli explained. “At the time, we had set up
multiple diversified businesses. Now we focus on a single unique technology
known as “micro-gas-chromatography” and have carved out our own space in new
emerging markets. There are no more than five companies worldwide working in
them. When it comes to technologies as well, the strength is in developing them
to become leaders in specific applications.” The turning point came in 2016
also thanks to our winning the Horizon2020 European tender and our entry into
the gas market. Today, the company
boasts 40 employees with an average age of 35 and a turnover of €5 million
which should reach €10 million over the next three years according to
estimates. Half of the sales are made outside Italy and our clients - both
public and private - belong essentially to the two sectors of environmental
control and gas quality control.
Hi-tech
solutions. Optimizing industrial processes, especially in the production and
distribution of green gases such as biomethane or hydrogen thanks to continuous
chemical analyses. This is Pollution's ambition. “This means reducing waste and
polluting emissions as well as increasing operating efficiency, thus
contributing to a safer, more ecological and cost-effective industrial
management... in one word: a more sustainable one,” explains Monticelli. After
all, these technologies help guarantee the safety of people and communities, in
some cases also enabling prompt intervention in the case of emergency
situations. The world trend is to produce gases from renewable sources to limit
greenhouse gases and become less fossil fuel reliant. This is where the new
Pollution analysers come in, essential to monitor and optimize gas production
and management processes. “We entered a growing market where the technological
challenge to sustainably produce new gases is a high-level one. Our
“lab-on-a-chip” technology applied to on-site chemical analysis consists in
incorporating the analytical lab functions traditionally carried out on wider
dimensions and with a wider time-frame into small silicon chips,” points out
Monticelli. This is the astonishing revolution of small silicon chips: a
technology that enables the conduction of top-level chemical analyses directly
online minimizing energy consumption, the use of technical gases, analysis
times and costs. The strength of miniature
technology. In the meantime, almost 20% of the profit is destined to R&D
and the company is today among the few European champions, as it was awarded
important research projects such as FP7 and Horizon 2020 financed directly by
Europe. Pollution holds various international patents and collaborated with
important research centres, including CNR in Bologna. “We have made open
innovation our mantra before the expression was even coined,” says Monticelli.
A combination of skill and technology that exists in few industrial businesses
on a global level. “Our will to change has remained unvaried! We always feel
imperfect and so we always strive to improve our work. We are now focusing on
energy gases, which have nothing to do with anaesthetic gases and businesses of
the past. Plus, where else would we find a district such as this one, teeming
with skills, technologies and people who want to cooperate just like us?
Nowhere. In other places, the value chain is much more fragmented, while 95% of
our suppliers and partners are located no more than 200 km from the company,”
concludes Monticelli. Once again, the future is made up of a multitude of
people.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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