Sustainability by nature is a continuous long-term journey

Chief Innovation and R&D Officer at Prysmian Group

With a strong heritage of over 100 years of research and development, Prysmian Group is one of the companies deeply engaged in providing innovative solutions to its customers. The company has a 360º approach to sustainability and a solid agenda, explained by Dr. Srinivas Siripurapu, Chief Innovation and R&D Officer explains in the following interview.

Growing up as a child in India, I always loved mathematics and science which made me gravitate to Engineering. As a Chemical Engineer pursuing my PhD in the US, I realized the positive impact that innovative materials and clean manufacturing can have on our planet. I have been fortunate to channel my passion for sustainable products and processes throughout my career. Energy Transition, Digitalization and Sustainability are three major market forces shaping all industries. Prysmian Group is well positioned to make a meaningful impact on all three fronts with our innovative solutions.

Sustainability is in our DNA and is an integral part of our businesses across the Group’s entire organization. We have a 360º approach to sustainability in how we engage our customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and local communities. We published our first sustainability report in 2014. Since then, we have continuously built on the foundation with a stronger governance, reporting, participation in sustainability indexes and inclusion of ESG in both short-term and long-term incentives for the organization. This year we have announced our climate change ambition pledging through science-based targets (SBTi) to reach net zero for our Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2035 and for Scope 3 emissions by 2050.

What is impressive about circular economy is the simplicity of the thought process – reduce waste, reuse materials and regenerate nature as much as possible. The challenge is in implementing it as sustainable business practice in all aspects of an organization or a community. Prysmian is keen to embrace circular economy concepts as metals and materials make up majority of our product content and costs. A personal favorite of mine is the recent introduction of our industry first EcoCable™ label which is the most comprehensive way to access cables using six attributes of circular economy – carbon footprint, substances of very high concern, recyclability, recycling input rate, environmental benefits and transmission efficiency in use.

This is the most difficult and insightful question in this interview. I will try to answer on multiple fronts – business, people and products. Sustainability by nature is a continuous long-term journey. Company leaders have to constantly challenge themselves to make the right decisions supporting near term financial targets while not losing sight of long-term viability through disruption from climate change and digitalization. For a large global company like Prysmian with 28,000 employees, communication becomes key to gain the right level of engagement from people on sustainable business initiatives. Finally, on my favorite topic of innovation, we are being challenged to introduce new technologies at a record pace as the world is racing to net zero. As our products typically have an expected lifetime of 10 to 40 years, we have to ensure the right rigor on development, testing and industrialization of these new technologies.

We are in an exciting time for Prysmian R&D as we are introducing several breakthrough technologies for energy transition and digitalization. For interconnectors and offshore windfarms, there are two key innovations I would like to highlight. P-Laser 525kV HVDC cable system that will be deployed for the first time in German Corridors and High Depth submarine cables with high modulus synthetic armor that will allow cable installations to a record depth of 3000m below sea level. For our telecom customers, two key innovations are FlexRibbon cables with a record breaking 6912 fibers for hyperscale datacenters and Sirocco cables utilizing the world’s first 180µm bend insensitive optical fiber.

Our vision is always be our customers’ preferred cables solutions provider. It means going over and beyond manufacturing the best quality cables. We are constantly thinking on the many ways to add value to our customer lives – increasing ease of product use, reducing installation costs, creating more robust designs, using less materials, etc. I see my role in Prysmian Group to be accountable on three fronts – our innovation strategy, our innovation pipeline and most importantly our innovation talent management. Beyond the right products and services, the highest priority for a leader is to identify and grow the right knowledge experts and managers. That is the only way we can ensure Prysmian will be around for the next 100 years.