Politecnico di Torino and Lavazza have extended the terms of their existing collaboration, defining new common goals regarding research activities, technological development, innovation and training. The five-year agreement has as its primary objective a complete redesign of the product, packaging and coffee consumption experience, with the aim of pursuing an improvement in the company's sustainability.
So far, the collaboration between the two companies has led to the creation of 100% recyclable packaging for the Lavazza ¡Tierra!, variety of coffee, with a reduction in CO2 emissions during the production phase of 40%, and the creation of a device with artificial intelligence, applied to coffee machines for bars and offices, able to quickly and accurately monitor the quality of coffee and allow for timely maintenance, if necessary.
The renewal of the partnership agreement will also focus on didactics, advanced training and lifelong learning: while university professors will take care of updating courses for Lavazza employees, the company's professionals will offer a series of educational activities at Politecnico, providing field training opportunities and an important contact with the world of business excellence.
Antonio Barravalle, CEO of Lavazza Group, said: "For the Lavazza Group today, sustainability is the driver of innovation, which is embodied in the responsible use of resources throughout the supply chain and the Sustainable by designapproach, i.e. researching, developing, testing and implementing actions to reduce the impact of packaging, coffee machines and production processes from their conception. We have therefore outlined our sustainable packaging roadmap, which aims to make the entire packaging portfolio reusable, recyclable and/or compostable, and the partnership with Politecnico di Torino, which is an international excellence, goes precisely in this direction".
"In light of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but also in line with the Next Generation EU plan, sustainability is now the common thread of most of the research activities of Politecnico di Torino in all areas," said Guido Saracco, Rector of Politecnico di Torino. "In particular, in renewing a historic collaboration like the one between our University and an industrial group like Lavazza, which has always been sensitive to these issues, it seemed particularly significant to us to set sustainability as a guideline for all the innovation processes on which we will work together. In the path towards sustainability, in fact, the link between research, the territory and businesses is even more fundamental: only by building a close relationship between all these players is it possible to achieve the project of transformation that we hope for the coming years".
