The work has been performed by the internal staff of the company (1 CEO and Founder; 1 Chief Information Officer; 1 Trainee). They have collaborated mainly with two third parties:
- Fondazione Politecnico di Milano (FPM) and the relevant Departments (Department of Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”; Department of Mechanics; Department of Energy; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering);
- ESMO S.r.l. a company specialized in EU fundings, which has been supporting Greenrail since the initial steps of application for SME Instrument Phase 1.
The result of this 6 months-work is a feasibility study, written by the team composed by Greenrail internal staff, FPM (with contributions from professors of the relevant Departments) and ESMO S.r.l.
In particular, the feasibility study includes these sections:
• Market-analysis: the European railroad sleepers market is analysed, with a specific focus on three geographical areas: Italy, Germany and France. The aim is to find out the best entry strategies, after having taken into account the main market features, the barriers to be overcome, the main competitors and the regulatory framework.
• Comparative analysis with concrete sleepers: a comparative analysis with the main competitor, namely concrete sleeper, is conducted to evaluate the impact of our solution in the European market, with a particular focus on the previously mentioned geographical areas.
• Environmental sustainability: an assessment will be conducted, to evaluate the environmental sustainability of our solution, compared to the already existing ones, not only on a European scale, but also on a global scale, in order to assess the possibility to enter in other markets, by relying on the comparative advantages given by environmental sustainability.
• Electric feasibility: an electric impact analysis is carried out, in order to calculate the economic added value of the product sold with the integrated piezoelectric system. This includes, in particular, an analysis of advantages and a specific study on how the Italian main trafficked railways may use the stock of energy to improve their service, by calculating the related saving and return on investment.
• Economic impact assessment: an impact assessment evaluates the economic advantages brought by our solution to the users/clients, if compared to the standard concrete sleepers, with a focus on the Italian, French and German markets.
• Partner search: a search for partners, investors, end-users, clients, universities/research centres is conducted in order to: build an eligible partnership for Phase 2 Project with a more structured SME; find potential investors to reach the market; conclude agreements with end-users/clients for a demonstrative/pilot activity; find further collaborations to use equipments and knowledge of top technical universities/research centres. The result is a complete database, with a series of contacts, meetings and agreements.
• conclusion: the updated status of Greenrail business idea. How the project shall continue; how the strategic vision has evolved as a result of the work undertaken: changes to the objectives, the concept and approach, and the impact; what kind of support would be useful to develop Greenrail business further (partners, expertise, access to funding, other).
