Innovation

How we innovate

The Abertis Group understands that innovation must be integrated, participatory and open.

Integrated innovation in which all the Group's business units work on an aligned and coordinated basis to identify, prioritise and develop opportunities.

Participatory innovation in which all Group employees get the opportunity to take part in the innovation process in one way or another.

Open innovation, in which the rest of the ecosystem's players must also participate; with universities and development centres; with start-ups; with suppliers and customers. Furthermore, many of the challenges, changes and opportunities facing mobility must be addressed jointly.

Beyond this, Abertis understands its responsibility in defining the future of mobility and participates in consortium projects and studies, which are today laying the technological and, above all, model foundations for the mobility and road transport of the future. The Abertis Group also strives continuously to spot and analyse trends through its innovation observatory.

The main tools that Abertis uses to innovate include:

  • Innovation Observatory: identification of trends, areas of interest for the Group and opportunities.
  • Intrapreneurship programme: fostering innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial thinking within the Group.
  • Innovation programme, spearheaded centrally and performed together with the business units, leveraging on the different areas of experience and each region's different realities.
  • Research projects, along with other corporations, universities and startups.
  • Experimentation with new technologies and ideas through innovation LABs.
  • Strategic investment in startups/scaleups of particular interest to the Group.
  • Challenges and innovation awards, through the Group's Chairs programme.

Commitment to research

By engaging in research initiatives with Universities and Technology Centres, Abertis stays abreast of the latest technologies and know-how while further exploring core areas.

These initiatives are essential for better understanding complex challenges, as well as for creating competitive advantage.

Abertis works alongside research centres in fields as diverse as customer behaviour, road safety or infrastructure digitisation.

Abertis and emerging companies

The Abertis Group's collaboration with global and local start-ups through its business units goes a back a long time.

From Abertis' point of view, there are several reasons for wanting to collaborate with startups. The main ones are usually flexibility or the availability of a differential technology or knowledge.

Abertis Group-startup collaborations tend to be geared towards rolling out a specific solution, which can then be exploited by Abertis or through a client venturing model.

In addition to taking part in any challenges that are published, we encourage any startups that have a differential solution that fits within the context of our priorities, to use this form to contact us (beyondroads@abertis.com).

Examples of recent collaborations with start-ups include the development of a Bluetooth technology-based mobile payment system or the development of a video analysis-based road surface auscultation system.

Abertis Chairs

Aware of the importance of links with the academic world for social and economic progress, Abertis promotes training, research and knowledge transfer between universities and business. For almost two decades, Abertis has forged closer ties between universities and professional practice, through research projects that contribute to further sustainable mobility, especially in the world's highway management industry. The Abertis Chairs International Network contributes to generate and disseminate new knowledge and innovations in the different fields of activity, making them serve society as a whole and the technical and educational community, and caring for and helping the talent that universities are capable of bringing to the surface and channelling.

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