Business strategy

Innovation to evolve

02 of February of 2015

Innovation has become a necessary requirement for any company that wants to survive. This principle is of even greater importance in an industry as demanding as infrastructures. The impact that they have on the daily life of citizens, on companies’ growth and on the development of regions and countries entails the search for solutions that meet new needs. For Ferrovial, innovating is innate. It has been part of our DNA for over sixty years. This is the reason why the company currently holds a leading position as a global infrastructures and services operator.

In this edition of Inforvial, we wanted to go deeper into the company´s innovation policy. This policy is not just theoretical but aims to benefit the users of the infrastructures and services managed by Ferrovial and to contribute to the progress of the communities where its activities are carried out. Thus, the projects set up jointly with the MIT are already being applied in construction and energy efficiency contracts and the ten winners of the Madrid Smart Lab program will receive the necessary training and guidance so that their ideas become a viable business alternative.

In turn, the PRENDE program is already raising awareness on the advantages of executing an energy rehabilitation project in buildings and is helping the citizens interested in the process. Moreover, the users of NTE, inaugurated in October, are now able to drive without having to stop thanks to an infrastructure opened to the public nine months before the expected date.

The practical dimension is also the cornerstone of internal initiatives that aim to promote innovation and entrepreneurship amongst employees. At the end of November, the eight ideas short-listed for the last edition of the Zuritanken Awards were announced. The winning idea will be piloted in 2015, as well as two other initiatives put forward. As for the three projects developed by the 15 professionals who participated in the Shuttle program, they have been analysed so as to improve them with the aim of turning them into pilots.

Initiatives such as Zuritanken and Shuttle are based on the company´s belief that its employees’ talent is one of its main assets and that boosting it is the company´s commitment. Amongst the initiatives that Ferrovial presents to its employees is the Global Mobility program, which takes advantage of the company´s international presence so that its professionals can be in contact with new markets, functions and processes.

The community´s progress is closely linked to the protection of those at disadvantage. For the last 13 years Ferrovial and Fundación Integra have tried to foster the labour insertion of people at risk of social exclusion. Over 350 job contracts are proof of the success of this collaboration.

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