Empowering Engineers and SMEs for Energy Efficiency in Italy
Identity card
Name of company : Ordine Ingegneri Brescia (Order of Engineers of Brescia)
Sector and size : Professional order
Country : Italy
City : Brescia
Company website : https://brescia.ordingegneri.it/
AENEAM project partner : CSMT
What motivated the Order of Engineers of the Province of Brescia to take part in the AENEAM project?
Energy efficiency has become a strategic priority for businesses and professionals alike. For the Order of Engineers of the Province of Brescia, the AENEAM project offered an opportunity to deepen knowledge of innovative energy audit approaches and explore how energy management practices can be effectively applied within SMEs. Given that engineers represent the vast majority of energy management experts in Italy, there was strong interest in gaining practical insights and sharing experiences with local companies.
How did the collaboration with CSMT support this objective?
The partnership between CSMT and the Order of Engineers proved instrumental in bringing the project closer to the local professional community. Acting as a bridge between the AENEAM initiative and engineering professionals, CSMT provided technical expertise, practical case studies and high-quality training content. Together with Confindustria Brescia, CSMT enriched the programme with discussions not only on energy efficiency, but also on management and communication aspects that are essential for the successful implementation of sustainable business practices.
What type of support did participants receive?
The collaboration delivered a comprehensive training pathway focused on energy efficiency, decarbonisation and the ISO 50001 energy management approach. Through seminars and knowledge-sharing activities, engineers were able to strengthen their technical skills, stay updated on emerging trends and gain practical tools to support businesses in their sustainability journey.
What were the most significant outcomes?
One of the most important achievements was raising awareness among SMEs. Many small and medium-sized enterprises still perceive energy management systems as complex or unsuitable for their scale. Through concrete examples and good practices presented during the training activities, participants were able to demonstrate that structured energy management is both feasible and beneficial, regardless of company size.
Another key result was the recognition of continuing professional education credits for participating engineers. This encouraged engagement while ensuring that knowledge acquired through AENEAM could support professional development over the long term.
Why was AENEAM particularly valuable?
The project combined highly specialised training with a strong awareness-raising component. By promoting the ISO 50001 methodology and showcasing successful experiences, it helped build confidence among professionals and SMEs, encouraging a more systematic approach to energy efficiency and sustainability.
What are the next steps?
The Order of Engineers and CSMT see significant potential for continuing their collaboration. Future initiatives could focus on topics such as sustainability, decarbonisation and the specific needs of micro-enterprises, which play an important role in the Brescia economy but are often overlooked in energy efficiency programmes. Expanding in-person events and technical conferences will also remain a priority, ensuring that knowledge exchange and professional development continue to drive the transition towards more sustainable energy management practices.
In conversation with Francesca Marini, Engineer and board member of the Order of Engineers of the Province of Brescia, and Head of the Energy Commission for the 2022-2026 term.
At this point in time, energy efficiency is a fundamental factor for business competitiveness. The collaboration between the Order of Engineers of the Province of Brescia and AENEAM arose precisely from this consideration: the project proposed an energy audit model that complies with technical standards and is applicable to SMEs, the backbone of the Italian production system.
Through the training sessions organized, AENEAM made it possible to bring the skills and experience of the Energy Commission — which includes several colleagues certified as EGE (Energy Management Experts) — to a broad audience of professionals, who showed great interest in learning about the experience of energy audits applied in particular to SMEs in the dairy sector.
This collaboration allowed AENEAM to support a strong outreach and awareness-raising initiative on some key topics related to energy audits, in particular management systems based on the ISO 50001 standard, a crucial international standard that shows how to manage energy consistently across all sectors, regardless of company size. Indeed, bringing these projects to SMEs and scaling them down to smaller realities is often more difficult.
It is essential to help professionals and SMEs themselves understand that these pathways are within their reach: these companies often believe they are not sufficiently equipped to take them on, but this is not the case. The development of good practices and the presence of solid technical expertise in the region serve precisely to show that small and medium-sized enterprises, too, can successfully pursue energy efficiency improvement pathways.
The continuing education credits recognized for engineers encouraged participation, while also allowing engineers to make the most of updating their knowledge on current topics. These are credits that are useful for professional practice, representing an excellent opportunity to explore topics of great interest such as energy efficiency and, more broadly, sustainability.
CSMT and Confindustria Brescia served as the necessary bridge-partners between the project and the Order of Engineers of the Province of Brescia, ensuring a competent technical presence that worked both on content and on connecting the different parties involved. CSMT built the training pathway addressing not only energy efficiency but also management and marketing topics, offering cross-cutting training on aspects that are fundamental for businesses.
It is also worth highlighting the value of in-person activities, such as technical conferences, as irreplaceable opportunities for exchange.
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