Innovation and continuous improvement policy

As a provider of engineering and infrastructure solutions, Safege pursues an R&D programme that combines hard science with an educational theme. Our research in the area of sustainable development is a prime example of this approach.
Safege dedicates nearly 4% of its turnover to innovation, knowledge sharing and research.

MONITORING, INNOVATION AND EXPERTISE : THE MAIN THRUSTS OF OUR R&D POLICY

Anticipating technological and regulatory developments

Our network of experts alerts Safege to foreseeable technological and regulatory developments and provides the support needed to guide our clients through each stage of their project.

Safege is a pioneer in the area of stormwater management for example, enabling its municipal clients to be properly prepared for new legal requirements in this area.

Improving engineering methods and tools

With its extensive modelling expertise, Safege is asked to develop methods for characterising, understanding and forecasting water-related processes and events.

Since the nineteen eighties, Safege has built up an exclusive and much-sought-after capability in the highly complex area of flow and water quality modelling in sewer systems and urban catchments – a capability that has allowed us to develop a tool for the real-time control of sewer systems in wet-weather conditions, based on the following processes :

representation of the distribution of rainfall (hyetograph),

rainfall/runoff transformation (hydrograph),

modelling of the propagation of flow,

monitoring of water quality.

Safege was the creator and developer of Piccolo, a unique package for the modelling of pressurised, looped water distribution systems. A decision-support tool for Lyonnaise des Eaux, it is also used to optimise water infrastructure investment strategies.

Serving the needs of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT and its subsidiaries, Degremont (water treatment plant specialists), Lyonnaise des Eaux and Sita (operators)

Set up at the beginning of 2008 as a centre of expertise for SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, CIRAH (International Research Center for Applied Hydroinformatics) is testimony to Safege's undisputed modelling capability. The centre is designed to assist SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT business units by :

preparing technical specifications for their modelling requirements,

helping them to operate numerical models,

meeting training requirements,

participating in their R&D programmes.