The expanded "Alstom in Motion 2025" strategy announced following the merger with Bombardier Transport will focus in particular on capturing high-growth market opportunities, as well as on strengthening its position as a leader in innovation.
Alstom's strategic plan responds to the historic acceleration of sustainable and green mobility needs around the world. Alstom has become the leading international rail player in this exceptional context. It is a unique responsibility that the company is ready to assume, and its objective is to offer its solutions wherever they are needed on the planet. The company has a clear ambition, the most complete and innovative portfolio of solutions, and highly committed teams around the world. By 2025, Alstom will have defined new standards for green and smart mobility, both in terms of sustainability, innovation and profitability.
Innovating by creating more sustainable and smarter mobility solutions for all
Value-creating innovation is both essential for differentiation and a means to inject added value and increase Alstom's competitiveness. To innovate in green and smart solutions, Alstom has significantly strengthened its Research & Development (R&D) resources to advance innovation in key areas of intelligent, sustainable, inclusive and healthier mobility and intends to broaden its leadership in rail innovation. With its new scale and expertise, the Group now holds more than 9,500 patents and a talent base unique in the industry.
The most comprehensive range of green solutions to support our customers' environmental objectives
Alstom is the only rail player today to offer a full range of green traction solutions and to possess fuel cell technology. Alstom's hydrogen trains, the Coradia iLint, have been in commercial service since 2018 in Germany. The Group has won firm contracts in Germany, France and Italy for a total of 59 trains and has expanded partnerships with other European countries. Regarding smart mobility, the company aims to have prototypes of fully autonomous trains for freight and passengers by 2023. Alstom will also be able to exploit data from 35,000 vehicles undergoing maintenance and can rely on its 7,500 software engineers and system architects working on digital mobility solutions to evolve its offering and enable fleets of metros, trams and regional trains to be fully connected.
Create added value and stay ahead
Alstom is resolutely pursuing its innovation effort with the aim of differentiating itself from its competitors, increasing its competitiveness and reducing the total cost of ownership of its products. To innovate is to anticipate the needs of customers, operators and passengers. To innovate is to create added value. The innovation process at Alstom is structured to encourage the emergence and maturation of the best ideas. The R&D plan ensures the industrial development of innovative solutions that will be deployed on customers' projects. To innovate is also to stay one step ahead in a context of increased competition. Finally, it means offering more competitive prices thanks to cutting-edge design and production tools and methods.
In terms of innovation, Alstom's priorities include:
- Efficiency for operators: smart maintenance, cybersecurity, optimized total cost of ownership;
- Attractiveness for passengers: on-board passenger experience, connectivity, real-time information; and
- Greater integration with other modes of transport: multimodality, solutions for the first and last mile.
An ecosystem of innovation and creativity
Because creativity is stimulated by exchange, the company engages in an open innovation approach with universities, research centers and start-ups. This approach has generated public/private research initiatives and Alstom is also involved in competitiveness clusters specializing in embedded systems and future transport systems. This dynamic extends to its suppliers, as well as to customers and operators.
Encouraging creativity internally
Alstom has developed a collaborative innovation methodology, a process designed to identify and develop the most promising ideas, in line with the organization's innovation strategy. It is based on a local innovation ecosystem managed by a network of champions positioned around the world. They were selected and trained to develop innovation and the associated value creation at their site. This culture of innovation is promoted across the group through training sessions, webinars and a dedicated digital collaborative platform for innovation.
In order to strengthen a culture of innovation, Alstom organizes each year, internally, theinnovation campaign "I NOVE YOU", which rewards the most creative and high value-added projects, covering products, systems, processes, sustainable development, as well as the best partnerships and more.
Alstom Coradia iLint
Source: Alstom/C. Busse
This sponsored content was produced as part of the Impulsion MTL 2021 event – the international forum on vehicle fleet management.
