Innovation, digitalisation and communication. These are the three key words for the restart of the sector. After almost a year full of uncertainties, there is a need for firm points to build the future of biomass heating together. A roadmap for the future that we try to outline with Raul Barbieri, general manager of Piemmeti, always committed to the promotion and visibility of companies in the sector.
2021 has begun: how do you see the near future of the biomass heating sector?
Our sector, as we have seen in recent months, has shown great resilience in the face of the crisis from which, unfortunately, we have yet to emerge. There have been critical periods, but companies have been able to take the blow without falling to the ground, reacting to the inevitable drop in turnover by pushing for product innovation, digitalisation and communication, elements that are increasingly necessary. This confirms the trend that, in times of crisis, people prefer the stove or fireplace to other heating systems: perhaps there is a greater need for a warm and reassuring place in the home, a “hearth” that makes us forget the difficulties.
Last autumn Piemmeti supported the sector by creating, among other things, new editions of PF magazine dedicated to foreign markets. What new initiatives are in the making?
We at Piemmeti will continue to do all we can to support companies in the sector, to start again together, expanding our communication tools. First of all, the Web Gallery on the Progetto Fuoco website is getting bigger and more complete, and over the course of the year it will take another step forward to become comprehensive and attractive. A sort of definitive guide to biomass heating. It’s a tool that companies are really enjoying and traffic figures, including on social networks, indicate a growing appreciation from online users too. We are sure that Progetto Fuoco’s website and social networks are in this way widening the market, making our companies’ solutions known and appreciated also by people who until now had never seriously considered biomass heating. PF magazine, which landed on the web last year, is receiving more and more consensus from the whole business world, from the b2b market and from end consumers also in its foreign language versions. In this way the Progetto Fuoco portal becomes an essential touch point, open 365 days a year, able to speak to the market in a clear, expert and innovative way.
What is the relationship between the Web Gallery and the physical fair?
Let’s make one thing clear: digital cannot replace (and fortunately so) the trade fair appointment. But ‘hybridisation’, i.e. the use of digital to support the physical, is increasingly necessary. There will be a double link between the online product gallery and the trade fair, which will reward the companies that bet on both in terms of visibility. We have lots of ideas for Progetto Fuoco 2022, and we are ready for an edition that will see innovation and environmental sustainability as the main protagonists, two elements that run on the same track. Biomass is a renewable energy, and in Italy and Europe forests are increasing in number. It is now up to us to use this resource intelligently, without waste and limiting emissions as much as possible. To do this, the most important ally is technology and the desire to innovate.
Who will put this innovation into practice?
In the front line, alongside the large companies, which have always worked together to develop the sector, are start-ups and young innovators. The former will be highlighted by the “Startup Award”, a challenge that will see numerous innovative Italian and European companies competing in pitch competitions in which they present their technological products relating to the biomass heating sector. During Progetto Fuoco 2022 there will also be a hackathon, a marathon between young innovators: the big theme of this edition will be finding solutions for the reduction of CO2 emissions, greenhouse gases and particulate matter. The ideas of young people, students, workers in the sector or simply enthusiasts always manage to amaze the market, perhaps inspiring even more those companies that are investing – and must do more and more in the future – to find the killer application able to convince the general public that biomass heating is not only sustainable but also green and clean.
