SDGs at ITG

We understand training as a lever for personal and organisational progress, and it has been an essential part of ITG’s activity since our incorporation in 1991. We would like to highlight two important initiatives in this field. The Oficina Acelera Pyme (OAP) in A Coruña, which we have set up in collaboration with Red.es to contribute to the digital transformation process of SMEs in Galicia, with free advice and training. In its first two years of operation, it has given 53 digitalisation workshops with 700 participants from 450 entities, has resolved more than 200 queries and has carried out 50 digitalisation and technological modernisation itineraries. All of this free of charge.

We also promote the Maker Drone League in collaboration with the Barrié Foundation, a pioneering competition in Spain that aims to stimulate creativity and interest in technology and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) vocations among young Galicians in the 2nd year of ESO. The Maker Drone League is an annual initiative between the months of October and the beginning of May of the following year in which 18 teams and 180 students take on the challenge of designing, programming and flying a drone with their solutions to solve a specific social problem in the shortest possible time and with the highest degree of efficiency. The organisation provides free of charge both the drones and the training and guidance needed to build and fly the technological solution during the final day.

Equal treatment and opportunities between women and men is a priority for ITG and we consider it a fundamental principle of labour relations and human resources management in our organisation. This commitment is embodied in our Equality Plan, which aims to eliminate and correct any type of inequality or discrimination based on gender that may occur in an organisation, integrating equal treatment and opportunities between women and men as a cross-cutting theme in all management procedures.

ITG is committed to the global water innovation ecosystem. We promoted the creation of the Water Action Platform, a network of professionals from 190 countries, we are a member of Water Europe and we are also a member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Water Technology Platform. We provide value-added solutions in the field of the integral water cycle, specialising in the improvement of Water Governance through digitalisation, intensive use of data and selective access to value-added information. An activity that already totals 25 implementations in Spain, Italy and Portugal, 4,000 kilometres of sewerage and supply networks and 195,000 citizens receiving the service.

In this link we list up to 24 examples of our innovation and research work in this field, with a cross-cutting approach aimed at improving resilience, combating climate change and achieving a Circular Economy. Our lines of work in this area are as follows:

• Hydrographic Basins and Water Resources
• Drinking Water Distribution and Sanitation
• Wastewater Treatment
• Symbiosis between Water, City and Industry
• Green Wastewater Treatment Solutions
• Water Use Conflicts (WEF)

We are a CERVERA Technology Centre of Excellence in Energy Transition recognised by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the CDTI (CER20191019) for the “Development of energy-positive local communities with hybrid storage and renewable generation systems”. We promote this alternative, decentralised and participatory model, developing prediction, optimisation and management algorithms for energy production and demand in these communities. A prediction that generates important economic savings derived from improving the internal distribution of energy, optimising the use of flexible loads and increasing the use of storage.

In this link we list up to 9 examples of our work in the field of renewable energies and energy optimisation in addition to more than 500 actions in the private sector. In addition, in the buildings that we certify with the BREEAM® methodology in Spain (more than 1,800 as of August 2023) we promote the installation of renewable energy sources, the monitoring of consumption and the use of low-consumption appliances and lighting.

Our Technology Centre employs 130 professionals and their well-being is the principle on which our corporate culture is built. We respect and comply with the principles of the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour standards and anti-corruption, and it is honesty, trust, respect and an entrepreneurial attitude that guide our conduct.

Furthermore, our raison d’être as a Technology Centre is to improve the competitive capacity and economic growth of companies, professionals and organisations, facilitating their access to research and technological development activities and promoting innovation and continuous improvement processes. In this link you can consult multiple examples of this innovative activity that pursues the economic growth of our environment.

In addition, in recent years, we have been committed to the creation of new companies such as Flythings or DroneSolutions to promote the transfer of knowledge to the market and boost economic growth in specific areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT, Internet of Things) and unmanned vehicles and systems.

Digitalisation and innovation in the industrial sector is one of our main areas of activity. Predictive sales systems that improve production and logistics planning, intelligent sensor systems to monitor production, digital certification of traceability, energy flexibility systems or the generation of digital replicas that allow multiple simulations to be made before creating objects or before introducing modifications to them, are some specific examples of our activity. In this link you can consult more than 15 success stories in this field.

We have laboratories and research infrastructures in line with the triple recognition as a CERVERA Technological Centre of Research Excellence awarded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the CDTI in Deep Learning and AI (CER20191011) for the “Leadership of R&D&I in Applied Artificial Intelligence”; for the development of “New technologies for intelligent transport based on Autonomous Aerial Mobility” (CER20191007); and for the “Development of energy positive local communities with hybrid storage and renewable generation systems” (CER20191019).

In addition, the international BREEAM methodology (for which we have been the exclusive certifying body in Spain since 2010) can be applied to any type of infrastructure and highlights the increase in the number of certificates in the logistics and industrial sector, which in Spain represents more than 11% of the projects assessed.

This is perhaps one of the SDGs where the activity of our Technology Centre converges the most. From the technology we develop in the field of the integral water cycle, which covers water quality in river basin environments to drinking water networks and sanitation infrastructures; that which enables the optimal production of renewable energy, its storage and subsequent distribution and efficient management; that which foresees new forms of intelligent and sustainable mobility in our cities through unmanned aerial vehicles in logistics, messaging, emergencies, security or even the transport of people; or the technologies we develop to minimise pollution and study new forms of interrelation between urban and industrial environments in our cities and urban environments.

It is also crucial to design this urban planning from a sustainable point of view and examples such as Madrid Nuevo Norte or the integration of the railway tracks in the city of Logroño are concrete examples of how the BREEAM® ES Urbanism certification methodology can be implemented to obtain environmental, economic and health and wellbeing benefits for people.

BREEAM® ES Urbanism promotes access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, encouraging inclusive urbanisation and spatial planning, based on participatory and integrated management of communities and redoubling efforts to protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage. Its implementation contributes to reducing the negative per capita environmental impact of cities, paying particular attention to air quality and municipal waste management and providing universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green spaces and public spaces. It is also a particularly useful methodology for implementing operational national and local policies related to this SDG, such as the Spanish Urban Agenda (AUE) and its local action plans.

ITG contributes to curbing the overexploitation of resources and promoting responsible production and consumption with specific European initiatives aimed, for example, at validating new bio-based and nanotechnological materials to replace the usual polyurethane foams in the construction, automotive, furniture and textile markets (BIOMAT). We can also highlight two other recent initiatives to develop technologies to generate virtuous circles of circular economy between urban and industrial environments (SYMSITES); or to promote a radical transformation of wastewater treatment in rural areas in line with a new conception of purification based on the efficient use of resources (CIRCRURAL).

This SDG also has a bearing on promoting sustainable lifestyles and tourism among the population, an area in which we have developed technology for European initiatives aimed at creating low-cost electric propulsion vehicles to facilitate sustainable and clean mobility in the tourist areas of Huelva and the Portuguese Algarve (T2UES), or providing drinking water supply to the ‘Camino de Santiago Inglés’ to mitigate the environmental impacts of bottled water consumption on European nature trails and cultural itineraries (WATERWAY).

Aproximadamente la mitad de todos los recursos no renovables que consume la humanidad en un año se utilizan para la industria de la construcción, una de las más contaminantes y con mayor impacto ambiental. ITG trabaja activamente en minimizar este impacto: sólo existen 6 organismos certificadores en el mundo de la prestigiosa metodología internacional BREEAM® para la evaluación y certificación de edificios sostenibles, e ITG es uno de ellos. Somos el organismo certificador BREEAM® ES desde el año 2010.

Approximately half of all non-renewable resources consumed by mankind in a year are used for the construction industry, one of the most polluting and environmentally impactful industries. ITG is actively working to minimise this impact: there are only 6 certifying bodies in the world for the prestigious international BREEAM® methodology for the assessment and certification of sustainable buildings, and ITG is one of them. We have been the BREEAM® ES certifying body since 2010. 

The methodology contains specific requirements that address everything from the resilience of communities and buildings to the known and predicted impacts of climate change, to appropriate design for the micro-climatic characteristics of the environment. Together, they promote sustainable energy use, minimisation of greenhouse gas emissions, resilience to flood risk and implementation of climate change adaptation measures. 

In addition, ITG is working on specific climate action projects in the field of water and renewable energy. How to improve the response of sanitation networks to extreme climate change events (LIFE RESEAU), how to anticipate the response of green wastewater treatment solutions to flood-related pollution in cities (D4RUNOFF), or how to define innovative energy models based on the deployment of storage systems and renewable energy management (AGERAR), are some examples. 

ITG’s contribution to this objective is materialised, for example, through our participation in the Design of the Green Infrastructure Strategy of the A Coruña Area. An initiative documented in the Spanish Network of Biosphere Reserves (RERB) of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the demographic challenge.

The aim of this initiative promoted by the Regional Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Planning (Xunta de Galicia), together with the Mariñas Coruñesas e Terras do Mandeo Biosphere Reserve, the Juana de Vega Foundation and ITG, was to define a network of natural and semi-natural areas to protect biodiversity and provide environmental services (water and air purification, carbon fixation, soil fertility, etc.), and to promote a comprehensive management of the territory from an environmental point of view until the year 2050. Principles defined in the European Union Biodiversity Strategy until 2020, which considers green infrastructure as a tool to address the restoration and enhancement of the goods and services provided by nature, helping to improve the health and well-being of citizens, and providing green jobs and boosting the circular economy. 

ITG has also participated in initiatives to promote appropriate forest management to prevent forest fires (GEFRECON), in research into energy uses of forest biomass (ENERBIOLOG) or in the optimisation of key processes in the management of forest resources through automation and reduction of data collection costs, the availability of updated and value-added information for decision making, and the control and execution of the different actions involved in the Technical Documents for Forest Management (XESTAL). 

Participation in knowledge networks and alliances between governments, civil society and the private sector allows us to advance in the actions we develop for the fulfilment of the different SDGs. In addition to our membership of UN Global Compact (United Nations Global Compact), we are part of international networks such as Water Action Platform (Founding Member), AME (Alliance for New Mobilit Europe), WAITRO (World Association of Industrial and Technology Organisations), NEB (New European Bauhaus Community of Partners), WATER EUROPE Technology Platform, ASTM International (American Society for Testing and Materials), and working groups of EUROCONTROL (European Network of U-space Demonstrators) and EUROCAE (European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment).

At national level, we are part of FEDIT (Spanish Federation of Technology Centres) and of 9 technology platforms in the fields of Aerospace, Water, Photovoltaic, Wind Energy, Energy Efficiency, Power Grids, Energy Storage, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, and Software. In addition, we are part of the NET-ZERO alliance for the Decarbonisation of Maritime Transport). At regional level, we are part of ATIGA, the Intersectoral Technology Alliance of Galicia; of 4 business clusters in the food, audiovisual, renewable energy, environmental solutions and circular economy fields; and of DIHGIGAL (Digital Innovation Industrial Hub of Galicia).