F I C H T N E R A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 2 1 F o r e w o r d S H A P I N G I N F R A S T R U C T U R E Well-designed and sustainable infrastructures are the arteries of our modern life. They are the key to sustainable economic activity and climate neutrality, while also being a prerequisite for achieving greater parity in living conditions. Since our foundation in 1922, we have been contributing to the construction and modernization of vital infrastructures in the utilities and waste management sectors. Dr. Andreas Weidler We Encounter the Transformation Everywhere These infrastructures are currently under- going particularly dynamic development. The needs of a growing world popula- tion and today’s greater requirements for energy diversity, independence and security of supply must be met at the same time as the requirements arising from environmental and climate protec- tion. The latter call for concepts that are resource-friendly and can slow down global warming, at best reverse it, and at worst deal with its consequences. This applies to all infrastructure sectors, but especially to the energy sector as well as to water supply, wastewater, waste management and recycling, and mobility. IT Supports the Infrastructure Transformation The IT infrastructure is likewise under- going extremely rapid changes. The exchange of information is not only growing in the private sphere as well as in the commercial and industrial world, but is also becoming increasingly impor- tant for meeting the challenges of the climate crisis. Smart cities and smart grids, for example, are no longer a vision of the future, and digitization will also open up new opportunities for us in the field of mobility. Holistic Design Is Indispensable As an engineering service provider, we focus on handling challenging consult- ing and engineering tasks that require a combination of expertise from diverse fields. In our business sectors, we work on the building blocks of integrated all- round solutions, which in themselves require technical excellence and expe- rience in implementation. However, our aspiration and also our strength lie in intelligently combining those building blocks to create a sustainably better solution. This requires holistic thinking, since the construction and moderniza- tion of an infrastructure are often closely related to other systems. Their assess- ment and planning then necessitate a broader perspective. This is the case, for example, in the energy sector where the boundaries between sectors are van- ishing and, from generation to transmis- sion and trading through to storage and consumption, any effects on upstream, downstream or neighboring systems must be taken into account. Thinking and Acting Across Sectors The advantages of transforming forms of energy are demonstrated, for example, by the hydrogen economy: Hydrogen produced using green electricity can be used in the heating sector or for recon- version into electricity, or it can serve as a feedstock for climate-neutral fuels used in applications such as the trans- portation sector. In this context, we bene fit from our knowledge of fields such as renewable energies, power grids, heating, transportation, process engineering, water treatment and, of course, hydrogen and IT. Disposal and Supply Are Merging Cross-functional thinking improves our handling of natural resources as well as wastewater, waste heat and solid waste. From combined heat and power plants to heat recovery from waste water, a wide range of options is available to make good use of unavoidable waste and wastewater, thereby cutting fossil fuel consumption. In addition to this, increas- ingly better recycling technologies are ensuring that discarded products do not become waste in the first place and that resources are conserved. Using Abstraction To Achieve the Optimal Solution To improve resource conservation and efficiency, it often pays to first look at and evaluate all components as a black box, rather than immediately thinking in terms of solutions. Only in the second step are these components then con- 04