40% more visitors to the event
Raul Barbieri, General Manager of Piemmeti: «A sign of vitality for a sector that has more than 22,000 plants in Italy and wants to face the challenges posed by the energy transition with a proactive spirit and an eye to the future». Startup ReFuel Solutions wins the first Oil&nonOil Innovation Village Award
Verona, 18 November 2022 – Over four thousand attendees for the three days of Oil&nonOil, the only event in Italy and the Mediterranean basin for the fuel distribution chain, which closed today at the Verona Exhibition Centre. Growing numbers for this 17th edition, which marks a +40% increase in attendance compared to 2021 and a return to the pre-Covid levels recorded in 2018. From the next edition, scheduled for November 2023, the event will take on a biennial character and will therefore be held in odd-numbered years.
«These three days at the fair in Verona, anticipated by the presentation in Rome on 10 October, did not disappoint expectations – commented Raul Barbieri, General Manager of Piemmeti, the Veronafiere group company that organises Oil&nonOil –. “More than 4 thousand people visited the 116 exhibitors’ stands, and the 25 conferences and workshops that gave rise to a high-level discussion on the future of the sector were also well attended. A sign of vitality for a sector that counts more than 22 thousand plants in Italy and that wants to face the challenges posed by the energy transition with a proactive spirit and an eye to the future.».
In the conference programme, the associations representing the sector strongly emphasised the strategic importance of maintaining competitiveness on the market and the possibility of marking out a path that enhances the right balance between time and climate objectives dictated by the European Green New Deal – as regards, for example, the stop on the production of cars with endothermic engines from 2035 and the Fit for 55 package to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. A balance that, according to the associations, must not be based solely on electrification, but on the variety of technologies possible in the new mobility, from advanced biofuels to e-fuels, to the study of environmentally sustainable solutions based on the use of hydrogen.
Another important novelty of this three-day event was the first edition of the Oil&nonOil Innovation Village, a thematic area dedicated to innovation animated by 9 innovative start-ups that took part in a contest, presenting their solutions in a series of talks. The winners of the Award were announced today.
ReFuel Solutions from Modena won the first prize, which was awarded by a jury of experts consisting of Bruno Giordano, president of Anie, the Confindustria federation of the electrotechnical and electronic sector, Giuseppe Salghetti Drioli of NOI Techpark, Alessandro Bragantini, Unicredit Northeast corporate region coordinator, and Francesca Ponzecchi, co-founder of Blum. ReFuel Solutions has come up with BiodieselKit, a patented technology that allows any vehicle or diesel system, from trucks to generators, to use pure biodiesel, exceeding the current limit of 7%. The benefits are immediate cost savings and a drastic reduction in polluting emissions. Second place went to Windcity, a start-up from Rovereto (TN), which patented a passive variable-geometry mini-wind turbine, capable of maximising its energy production by exploiting the variability of winds at urban altitudes. Completing the podium, tied for third, were HT Plasma of Rovigo with Glow, an innovative device designed for proper hand sanitisation that exploits the antimicrobial power of cold plasma, and Eitherland, based in Castelminio di Resana (TV), the first made-in-Italy furniture space designed specifically for the new ways of working remotely, designed by Davide Anzalone and Alberto Mattiello.
Ganiga from Pisa, on the other hand, won the prize from the public, who voted through a digital application. The startup presented Hoooly! a smart waste bin made of recycled plastic, connected to an app with artificial intelligence that collects real-time statistics on waste (both food and packaging), waste categories and disposal methods.
Numerous associations and organisations are sponsoring the fair: Unem – Unione energie per la mobilità, Assopetroli-Assoenergia, Assogasliquidi – Federchimica, Federmetano – Federazione nazionale distributori e trasportatori di metano, Assogasmetano – Associazione nazionale imprese distributrici metano autotrazione, Alis – Associazione logistica dell’intermodalità sostenibile, Assocostieri, Faib – Federazione autonoma italiana benzinai, Assolavaggisti, Fegica – Federazione italiana gestori carburanti e affini, Fai – Federazione autotrasportatori italiani e Fiap – Federazione italiana autotrasportatori professionali, NGV Italy, FIGISC – Federazione Italiana Gestori Impianti Stradali Carburanti, Confartigianato Trasporti, CIB – Consorzio Italiano Biogas, Assoporti, Confesercenti, ACI – Automobile Club d’Italia, Grandi Reti, Autovie Venete, ENEA.
- Oil&nonOil is the only event in Italy and the Mediterranean basin aimed at operators in the fuel distribution chain. https://www.oilnonoil.it/