Industry, Research and Innovation, Italian Startup, 75 million record sales from the US and agreements in progress with other countries, the sustainable railway that produces energy, “the will to do business”
Greenrail was invented, a railway cross made of tires and recycled plastic, which reduces maintenance costs, noise and vibrations. And that in addition generates clean electricity to the passage of trains. He is Giovanni De Lisi, 29, from Palermo: «After joining the Faculty of Law, I understood that I did not want to be a lawyer, but an entrepreneur. My father has a railway construction company and I asked him to work on his behalf. Instead of giving me a desk, he sent me to the construction site. I started working as a construction worker from below: I was responsible for the maintenance and assembly of sleepers, “he tells Millionaire.
Giovanni gets passionate about his work and starts studying the sector: “I read that in the United States they were building railway sleepers made of recycled plastic. The problem is that these were not substitutable for those in concrete that represent 90% of the market. But only to those of wood. I studied the market and I realized that there were extraordinary numbers: 4 billion euros, the value only for maintenance and replacement, 80 million crossbars purchased each year in the world. So I thought about how to find a solution. I called an architect friend to help me. ”
This is the embryo from which Greenrail originates: “The cross is made of plastic and tires out of order. The system we have patented can replace concrete sleepers, lasts longer than traditional ones (50 years, compared to 30 of concrete), costs less (70 euros per cross against the average of 98 in concrete). And it has several positive aspects on the environment: it disposes of 50 tons of plastic in just one kilometer of line and produces (thanks to piezoelectric systems) 120 kwh of energy for each transit of 10-15 trains per hour ».
Once having the idea, he knocks on the doors of the main Italian financiers, but only receives doors in his face: “If you are an App they give you money, if instead you think of a different project, able to create many jobs, they tell you that the investment is too high. The truth is that it is such a big market that it scares “.
To finance the project, use their own money, a first form of self-financing of the members (there are 6 in all), then the participation in the Edison Startup call and the victory of 100 thousand euro. Now they are among the finalists of the Horizon 2020 call for proposals: they have obtained 50 thousand euros in the first phase and if they pass the second, they will receive a prize of 2.5 million euros: «We have not finished the product development, but we already have the interest of different countries: we are closing agreements in Kazakhstan, Australia, United States and United Kingdom. We will award the patent for 20 million euros and we will offer a first contract for the supply of 200 million. Innovation can be made, even if in Italy it is more difficult and it takes twice the courage. If you have an idea, search for the best skills. And then fight, throw yourself, create, do not give up. If the idea and the product are valid, get to the goal. With difficulty, but you get there ».
Source Millionaire
Eleonora Chioda and Eleonora Crisafulli
December 15th 2017
