SOCOTEC GROUP in Italy acquires 100% of Sestosensor

SOCOTEC Group has a platform in Italy with 700 employees that has maintained strong and steady growth since its start-up in 2018.

•  With the acquisition of Sestosensor, SOCOTEC Italy consolidates its position in the highest-tech segment of the infrastructure monitoring market.

•  The acquisition of Sestosensor is the fourth in Italy in the last 19 months, following those of TECNOLAB, EUROGEO and IMG.

•  Sestosensor, which is one of the world's top 10 manufacturers of distributed fibre-optic sensors with proprietary know-how and patents, has realised unique applications such as the monitoring of micro-cracks in Michelangelo's David preserved in the Accademia Gallery in Florence.

Sestosensor is a company founded in 2009 in Bologna that operates in the field of photonics by developing and producing fibre-optic sensors that, due to their unique technical and environmental sustainability advantages, have growing applications in many industrial sectors. Sestosensor's products are on the market in applications ranging from the oil industry, where they are used, for example, to detect leaks in gas and oil pipelines, to aqueducts, mines and infrastructures, such as dams, bridges and tunnels, for failure prevention, risk reduction and maintenance costs, in order to extend their life in total safety.

Sestosensor is involved in several European research and technology development projects. Its patents and proprietary know-how allow it to produce high-tech photonic interrogators in-house and it has realised unique applications such as the monitoring of the micro-cracks of Michelangelo's David preserved in the Accademia Gallery in Florence.

Sestosensor has a complete portfolio of products covering all the most high-performance technologies from Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors for more limited non-invasive monitoring, to 'distributed' sensors that use an optical fibre even already installed by injecting laser pulses into a 'virtual' sensor capable of measuring vital parameters such as mechanical deformations at every point, evolution of cracks and fissures, temperature variations, vibrations and oscillations that allow real-time identification of the type, location and severity of any anomalies over long distances.

For Massimo De Iasi, CEO of SOCOTEC Italy: "The acquisition of Sestosensor allows us to strengthen our technologies to support our customers in large projects for the control and monitoring of infrastructure and beyond. The technologies developed and patented by Sestosensor for SOCOTEC Italy open up new market scenarios such as the monitoring of our immense archaeological and artistic heritage, and the reduction of environmental risks in oil & gas infrastructures." He continues: "The development plan we are implementing allows us to address new market demands and be ready to face and respond to the challenges coming from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan."

Filippo Bastianini, founder of Sestosensor: "My team and I are proud to join the SOCOTEC Italia experts. The integration of our skills with those of the entire Group allows us to compete at the forefront, to better respond to the new technological and ecological challenges of the coming decades, and to contribute to making SOCOTEC Group the global leader in the sector".