With the investments we have made in services and expertise for decarbonisation and digitalisation, we are now recognised as one of the leading companies in these areas
We have helped many clients
understand and reduce their carbon footprints and worked on many innovative and ground-breaking projects.
The acceleration of the energy transition means that companies are investing in sustainability and decarbonisation, and our services are well-positioned to support this. One example includes a very important IPCEI project, where we were delighted to receive confirmation of the allocation of funding from the PNRR program to develop a pilot plant for the production of green steel. It will run for years to come and, in the end, will provide us with an open platform and reference for all hard-to-abate industries.
While 2022 has been a difficult year, the Space & Defence sector
within our business is seeing favourable trends. Although geopolitical events stalled several
projects in 2022, these have also resulted in governments increasing defence
budgets.
In our skies, satellites are increasingly being used to monitor CO2 levels, and exciting
projects are underway looking into how we can colonise the moon. The moon offers a rich supply
of rare raw materials. The Artemis project, for
example, involves analysing regolith (the loose, powdery deposits covering the moon) to look
for ways to build on the moon without transporting materials and how we can extract oxygen
from this resource. Our experience in advanced
materials is also being used to develop a tank that is four times lighter than
traditional tanks to house hydrogen, significantly reducing the cost of transport into space
and bringing the idea of using the resources on the moon a step closer.
We have gained a small but important project in defence in The Netherlands. This is an
important starting point for us in this country and provides us with a reference from which we
can grow.
Decarbonisation and sustainability are key pillars of the RINA business.
In our Industry sector, we have had great success in supporting clients, helping them define and submit proposals, to access PNRR funds with
our Technology Management Consultancy services. These provide a unique blend of economic
and business model skills combined with our engineering excellence. This service grew in 2022, and
we hope it will be a crucial success factor for our strategic development in 2023-27.
We have shown that we are a leader in helping clients reduce their carbon footprint. We help
with pathways and strategies but also with our expertise in materials. For example, hydrogen is predicted to be a significant factor in the future
energy mix, but its properties mean it accelerates material ageing. Hydrogen can be mixed with
methane to reduce emissions in many applications. However, pipelines and component parts, such as
valves, need to be rigorously tested to ensure they provide longevity and can contain hydrogen
molecules. During 2022, we carried out full-scale, extreme testing
of pipelines, which we constructed in a remote location to test how materials perform,
including simulation of seismic activity.
Another example of work to build a sustainable future includes helping clients increase the
circularity of their production, for example, helping a luxury yacht manufacturer find alternative
materials to resin, which is impossible to recycle.
In 2022, we acquired a large contract for a multi-utilities company
for a combined solution constituting a data platform and
wearable devices for personnel. This enables monitoring the correct wearing of PPE
and locates where and how workers move throughout the plant. Named “Safety@Work”, this
solution further monitors which processes are running and whether personnel are qualified to
be present.
A new digital platform to help with the digitalisation
of legacy machinery that is not natively connected was also launched in 2022. This helps with
the pathway to Industry 4.0 and, in Italy, attracts tax credits for our clients.
In the coming year, we will continue to support the energy transition with
innovative and value-add services. We also hope to exploit cybersecurity's potential from the opportunities we
seeded in 2022. We additionally started the integration of “CyberQuant”, technology to analyse the monetary
impact of a cyber-attack, into our ESG platform, helping our clients manage and quantify the risks of such an
event.
The biggest challenges for the coming year will be the ongoing shortage of availability of resources with
the right skills to support our growth, along with the lasting impact of energy prices and unknown effects of
geopolitical events. However, we also see ongoing positive market trends and are confident that our business
strategy is well-aligned to support these, giving us an optimistic outlook for 2023.
Supporting the increasing demand for manned-unmanned
cooperation in the defence sector
In 2022, RINA provided Piano Nazionale della Ricerca Militare (PNRM) with a study of
innovative techniques for Cooperation between a Manned Aircraft and a swarm of Unmanned
wingmen within the MAGICS (Multi AGent Intelligent Control System) project. The project aims
to increase the operational capabilities of an aircraft without increasing the workload on the
pilot by using modern Artificial Intelligence techniques to translate high-level commands
given by the operator into automatically generated, elementary tasks, which are dispatched to
wingmen according to their performance and characteristics. The combined results of the
mission operations are returned to the Pilot, making all aspects of communications and
interactions among the various agents transparent.
A step towards the
moon
RINA was awarded the contract as project coordinator for the Microlinth project, which is
working to address the challenges of colonising the moon. The project aims to evaluate the
feasibility of microwave sintering techniques to obtain bricks for construction and electrodes
for oxygen extraction from lunar regolith, the loose, powdery material on the surface of the
moon.
Regolith does not exist on Earth, and although some of its properties are similar to soil,
testing and verification of systems to be used on the moon require artificial modification to
simulate the characteristics of regolith. Chemical, metallographic, and high-temperature labs
at RINA’s Castel Romano facility are being used to reproduce the possible variabilities of
regolith.
Phasing out waste from
heavy and extractive industries
RINA is coordinating the 16M€ HEPHAESTUS (Heavy and Extractive industry
wastes PHAsing out through ESG Tailings Upcycling Synergy)
project, funded by the European Commission. The project's aim is to develop a set of scalable
and tuneable units that can be integrated into a processing plant to treat multiple process
wastes derived from primary minerals and primary and secondary metallurgical streams. The
project further strengthens our position in supporting the sustainable transition of
extractive and steel industries with clients such as Acciai Speciali Terni SpA and General
Mining and Metallurgical Company S.A.
A strategic roadmap to decarbonisation
Through this project, RINA is supporting the decarbonisation targets of a major Italian
multiutility company by defining a strategic roadmap for the implementation of CO2 capture
plants to meet net zero carbon emission targets by 2040. RINA investigated the CO2 value chain
using data from scientific literature and technical information from direct contact with
technology providers, which made it possible to construct a strategic roadmap based on
realistic data. This scientific approach allows the client to reach its targets gradually,
considering both the development trend of the technology and the forecast of cost reduction.
The project has laid the foundations for the development of a new strategic decarbonisation
service for RINA to support other clients in this activity in the future.
Decarbonising the
hard-to-abate steel industry
Commencing towards the end of 2022, HYbrid TEChnologies for sustainable steel reheating
(HyTecHeat) is a research project coordinated by RINA CSM. It is looking into the adoption of
hybrid heating technology in the steel industry based on the progressive and increasing use of
hydrogen to replace natural gas. Its focus is on downstream processes and involves the
evaluation of effects on steel products, refractories, and combustion systems. The project
uses three demo cases to test innovative multifuel burners and the limitations of current
systems at TRL 7. It involves major steel producers (Tenaris, SNAM, TATA Steel, Swerim, SSAB,
and Tenova) and presents an important opportunity to on real industrial burners across the
whole value chain. The results will save around 7.5-25Mt of CO2 emissions per year.
Assessing the cost and performance of carbon capture technologies
RINA worked for a major international food and beverage company to investigate
state-of-the-art technologies for CO2 capture and provide a preliminary assessment of the
technologies (e.g., TRL, technical feasibility, CapEx, OpEx).
The composition of the flue gas to be treated is fundamental to understanding which technology
can be applied, the expected performance levels and the relative costs of different solutions.
Through direct contact with technology providers, RINA supplied detailed information on
technical performance along with a forecast of costs and implementation times.
Moving towards a nautical
circular economy
In 2022, for an important luxury yacht builder, RINA worked to define a strategic roadmap
for recyclable materials to be implemented in the production process. We investigated
innovative materials and recycling technologies, helping to identify alternative business
opportunities for our client. Different scenarios were created using data from literature and
worldwide case studies. For each of them, RINA has individuated strategic opportunities for
reusing or selling recyclable materials to create new business diversification
solutions.
Monitoring project progress and quantifying additional
investments required
RINA investigated the stage of completion of a project to produce innovative and more
sustainable ceramic tiles with a percentage of waste materials on behalf of an Italian
investment bank. We performed technical due diligence to monitor the project and quantify the
additional investment required to complete the entire project. RINA visited the site of the
ceramic company, analysed all technical documents, and checked the GANTT against the real
stage of completion of the project, identifying critical paths and missing payments. We
additionally quantified additional investment required that had not originally been budgeted
and scheduled the remaining activities for the project.
The alliance for the sustainable development of
companies
Open-ES is an alliance initiated by Eni with the Boston Consulting Group and Google Cloud,
which has been joined, alongside RINA, by important Italian and international companies. By
opening the initiative to all businesses and involving the partners in their value chains, the
Open-ES platform already counts over 12,000 companies. It provides a true community that,
through discussion, collaboration and the identification of priority actions, is contributing
to the sustainable development of the entire ecosystem. The Open-ES digital platform brings
together industrial and financial ecosystems to support all companies in their path of
improvement and growth in sustainability performance.
Using our ESG assessment service and DIAS data verification platform, RINA verifies the
information stated by the companies to measure their ESG profile based on the four pillars of
the World Economic Forum's Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics:
- Planet: environmental impact
- People: respect for human rights, health and safety
·
- Prosperity: essential for the achievement of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for growth
- Principles of Governance: necessary for obtaining long-term
value by aligning and driving financial, social and environmental
performance.
Furthermore, HOLOS, the RINA technology for the quantification of cyber
risk has been integrated into the Open-es platform. Thanks to it, every company, user of the
platform, can assess its cyber posture, receive feedback on the main vulnerabilities and how
to improve them, as well as receive an economic quantification of the cyber risk it is exposed
to.
Meeting the quality needs of modern electric
transformers
Electrical steel can be considered the most complex steel to be produced. RINA CSM has a
team of experts in electrical steel that cover all production steps. Our client, a global
market leader, wanted to improve product quality and process performance for Grain Oriented
Electrical Steel (GO-ES). Our support is helping them reach their targets and transfer
knowledge and information that is improving the competencies of their specialists.
Releasing the potential
for GNSS science exploitations
GNSS infrastructure has been growing significantly in recent years, in the space segment
as well as on the ground. Millions of Internet-of-things (IoT) devices, including smartphones,
use GNSS for positioning. Due to a large number of devices, IoT data offer great potential for
GNSS science exploitations with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. However, access to
IoT data for scientific purposes is currently limited, and data processing is challenging.
The CAMALIOT project, which was completed in December 2022, involves an innovative software
infrastructure with data ingestion, processing and analysis, implementation of IoT components,
Machine Learning models, and pipelines. It provides direct access to GNSS Science Data from
different IoT sources, benefitting from ML's potential to deliver new products. The validation
of the software used two use cases, addressing Ionosphere and Troposphere characterisation.
RINA provided Project Management, the design of Big Data infrastructure, ML pipeline
implementation, the deployment of ML pipelines into the ESA GSSC portal, and software
development. The two experimental smartphone acquisition campaigns carried out validated the
Big Data platform infrastructure and its modularity, enabling data gathering from a restricted
set of devices and computing a forecast.
Evaluating legislative
developments
RINA provided socioeconomic information on how the member companies of the Semiconductor
PFAS Consortium would be affected by legislative developments relating to Per- and
poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These substances are increasingly detected as
environmental pollutants, and some are linked to negative effects on human
health.
Technical documentation to
meet UK Defence Standards and Regulations
Multi-Mode Radio (MMR) systems provide increased interoperability with allies, greater
flexibility in communication options and enhanced resilience against adversarial electronic
attacks for deployed allied forces. RINA is providing the requisite supporting technical
document set that satisfies UK Defence Standards and regulations that allow the systems to be
accepted into service by the UK MOD. The project requires the development and translation of
US ILS and Training analysis into UK MoD Def Stan-compliant equivalents. RINA supplies
Technical Publications, Training Needs Analysis, ILS Plans, AR&M Case Reports, and
Software Support and supports ILS Working Groups for the adoption of MMR systems from a major
US-based technology manufacturer into military service in the UK.
Safety documentation to
conduct flying trials
In a period between March and April 2022, RINA developed an extensive set of safety
artefacts to support a military permit to conduct flying trials of a Nano-UAS platform. The
short timescale project required RINA to work with speed and accuracy to develop and deliver a
flight trials safety case. The success of this project, which resulted in a robust safety case
to support the demonstration of the client’s product to the UK MoD, showed RINA’s
understanding of regulations and compliance criteria for safety and environmental
impact.
Independent safety
auditor
In a project that started in 2020, RINA is providing Independent Safety Audit (ISA)
assurance to the UK MoD Type Airworthiness Authority (TAA) throughout the procurement process
of the Protector UCAV, ensuring that the manufacturer’s data meets the exacting requirements
of the Military Aviation Authority (MAA) to support the Military Aircraft Certification
Process (MACP). The Protector is the first UCAV that has been specifically designed and
procured to meet the criteria for certification as a Military Aircraft. As a ground-breaking
procurement, the TAA has been reliant on the RINA ISA to provide a continual programme of
audit of the manufacturer’s safety case artefacts throughout the procurement to ensure that
the exposition that will be presented for the MAA to assess the MACP will be accepted. The
work will ensure the integration of safety considerations into the procurement programme from
the offset and give an early indication of risks along with overall cost savings. This is the
first time that this type of procurement has been managed in this way for this kind of
platform.
Airworthiness certification for a newly designed
aircraft
RINA has been pioneering HIRF testing for over 40 years and is one of the leading
companies in providing this niche service with the ability to test and mobilise test equipment
anywhere in the world. When Indonesian Aerospace had a requirement in the second half of 2022
to assess the N219 aircraft for compliance with the relevant requirements for HIRF protection
and verification imposed by the aircraft certification and Airworthiness authorities, it
contracted RINA to carry out the work. The necessary testing was completed in Indonesia in
accordance with the US FAA standard AC20-158A, ‘The Certification of Aircraft Electrical and
Electronic Systems for Operation in a High-Intensity Radiated Field Environment’; the Guide to
Certification of Aircraft in a High-Intensity Radiated Field Environment (ARP5583A) issued by
SAE, and the EUROCAE Guide to certification of aircraft in a high intensity radiated field
(ED107A).
Ensuring the safe
integration of aeromedical equipment onboard UK military fixed and rotary wing aircraft
During 2022, RINA supported a client in providing a Safety Assessment Report (SAR),
including the Release of Service Recommendations for multiple items of airworthy medical
equipment to be deployed on UK military fixed-wing and rotary-wing aeromedical capable
aircraft. The EMC and Environmental assessments were carried out against the requirements of
the generic SPAME specification. This was coupled with a detailed Safety & Environmental
Assessment in accordance with the Acquisition Safety & Environmental Management System to
identify all hazards and to ensure safety and release to service requirements were
met. The project was completed using RINA EMC, Environmental and Safety Engineering expertise
along with Environmental and EMC testing.
Optimising value for money
in capital and operational expenditure
RINA launched a new service to help organisations optimise CAPEX and OPEX expenditure for
critical high-voltage assets. Initially created for the electrical transmission and
distribution network in any country, the techniques can be applied to many other major
electrical infrastructures where condition, operational and statistical data can provide
technical decision support to owners and operators to target resources where needed most.
Operators with a significant number of critical assets where the maintenance and
upgrades/replacements are vital to maintain operational reliability can use D2V to move to
condition-based maintenance and a data-driven, focused, business-critical approach. The tool
includes the development of predictive maintenance algorithms for HV cables, transformers and
other high-value electrical assets, using advanced analytics and machine learning techniques.
This is made possible by the skillful and talented team from RINA who can design, develop and
deliver these state-of-the-art algorithms and software solutions by harvesting and analysing
terabytes of acquired data from thousands of installed sensors.
Virtual HYPERvisor
In 2022, RINA provided the Piano Nazionale della Ricerca Militare (PNRM) with a study of
innovative techniques to design and implement the Avionic Software, with the VHYPER project.
The main purpose of the VHYPER project is to experiment the use of a Framework based on Micro
Virtual Machine technology, to support development of Operation Flight Program - OFP, to be
executed into an Avionic Mission Computer.
Such Framework will be designed and developed using the most suitable Virtualization and
Micro-kernel technologies to meet the performance, safety, and security requirements compliant
with airworthiness regulations.
