Technology company Xylem has opened a new innovation centre in Montecchio Maggiore, northern Italy to understand how efficiency can be optimised by analysing a pump’s connectivity with a building control system.

The intention is that the multi-million Euro Xylem Innovation Centre will help accelerate the next generation of pumping technologies for use in residential and commercial buildings.

The investment aims in particular to respond to the challenges of the European Union’s Energy-related Products Directive, which demands higher efficiency in commercial building equipment.

In a company statement, Amedeo Valente, Director of Innovation and Technology with Xylem’s Applied Water Systems business, commented: ‘For a building to be truly green, components need to be able to communicate with each other so that adjustments can be made in real-time to deliver maximum efficiency. Our ambition is to drive even greater interconnectivity across systems, enhancing energy efficiency, further reducing the life-cycle costs of our products, and ultimately delivering cost-savings for customers. The deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies – connecting pump components through IoT to turn traditional pumps into smart pumps – is expected to increase operational efficiency by nearly 45 percent and widen application scope. We are committed to leading this evolution.’