Sustainability Channel

Premio alle Invenzioni: the patents of Bicocca

With eight patents selected from those conceded and 53 requests for patents deposited during the course of 2008, this year Pirelli also celebrated its innovative ability with the Awards for Inventions ceremony and the traditional presentation of gold and silver plaques.

Gold plaques for three product patents, two for the production process and three for materials were presented at the Castello degli Arcimboldi, Bicocca, on Thursday 26 November. The winners were 17 inventors of Pirelli Tyre and Parts, who received their plaques from the chairman of Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera. Speakers who described the importance of the award-winning inventions were Francesco Gori, managing director of Pirelli Tyre and director general of Tyre and Parts, Pier Giovanni Giannesi, director of Industrial Property, and Maurizio Boiocchi, Pirelli Tyre Product director.

For the inventors of Pirelli Tyre, Pirelli Labs and Pirelli & C. Eco Technology, authors of the 53 patents deposited in 2008, there was the silver plaque ceremony on Monday 30 November in the Auditorium of the Pirelli Tyre Building, Bicocca. Speakers at that ceremony were Francesco Gori, Pier Giovanni Giannesi, Bruno Tronchetti Provera, managing director of Pirelli & C. Eco Technology, Maurizio Boiocchi and Enrico Albizzati of Pirelli Labs.

Pirelli ‘2009 top investor in China’

For “knowing best how to gather opportunities in the Chinese market”, Pirelli was presented with the 2009 Top Investor in China award in Milan on Wednesday 25 November as part of the 2009 China Awards organised by the Italy-China Foundation. A special evening which took place under the patronage of Italy’s Ministry for Economic Development and its Foreign Ministry in partnership with Italian Chamber of Commerce in China with a contribution of the Intesa San Paolo Bank, which saw Pirelli, together with other companies including Brembo, Italcementi and Iveco, as protagonists of Italian entrepreneurial activity, which had distinguished itself for the importance of its investments in China. The presentation of 2009 China Awards took place during a charity dinner, the proceeds from which will be donated to the Lifeline Express project, a hospital train that travels the most remote regions of China to cure cataracts.

Protagonists On The Renewable Energy Scene

Pirelli Ambiente and Global Cleantech Capital (GCC) reached an agreement for acquisition by Pirelli Ambiente of the 50% stake owned by GCC in Solar Utility. Solar Utility was founded in 2007 as a 50/50 joint venture between Pirelli Ambiente and GCC, a private equity fund specialized in clean energy investments, in order to make joint investments in the photovoltaic sector. The transaction, worth approximately 8 million Euro, will increase Pirelli Ambiente’s stake to 100% of the company.
The purchase of the 50% stake not previously held by Pirelli Ambiente will allow it to pursue new growth Opportunities for Solar Utility, including through industrial partnerships like the one recently begun with Norwegian national energy utility Statkraft, as the first step to creating an important player in the renewable energy industry in Italy.

Press release Pirelli – Solar Utility 13.11.2009