Elain
Elain is a startup in Scania’s Venture Portfolio, providing a new digital service that delivers a visualisation of fuels and emissions for logistics to boost the shift to more sustainable transport. Insights are provided based on automatically collected and brand-independent data from vehicles and fuels. The application is targeted at transport buyers, giving them the ability to take an active role in managing the carbon footprint of their orders by connecting their transport network. Elain is incubated at Scania, a world leading provider of sustainable transport solutions.
We recently (October 2023) chatted with Viktoria Kindesjö, Co-venture lead and head of Product & Operations at Elain, to find out more about Scania’s intrapreneurship programme Scania Innovation Factory, Scania Ventures, and Elain.
Viktoria joined the Scania trainee programme back in 2019, as a Research & Development trainee. The trainees are rotated through different departments in the company. Viktoria is passionate about sustainability and did a rotation in the sustainability function. She found her time in the sustainability department very insightful. She was exposed to the challenge of making sure the fleet of electric vehicles runs on green electricity to positively influence the reduction of CO2 emissions. This led to the idea of helping the entire ecosystem track CO2-data. What was surprising was how much was still done in spreadsheets and using default vales and model data.
In recent years, Scania has put a focus on developing its entrepreneurial qualities – with the view that they will help the company create innovative business models for adapting to the future transport system. An important strategy in support of this approach is the establishment of Scania Innovation Factory. It provides an opportunity for anyone within Scania, regardless of their location, to submit their ideas for consideration. Once selected, small teams are granted six months of dedicated time away from their regular duties, along with a funding. They also receive guidance and support from Scania Innovation Factory to transform their ideas into viable commercial propositions, and potentially develop them into independent entities in the future.
Viktoria pitched her idea together with a colleague to the Scania Innovation Factory for automating the collection of fuel and emissions data from vehicle fleets to provide more accurate reporting on sustainability measures, including CO2 emissions. They pitch was successful and Elain was born!
Another key initiative to increase Scania’s focus on future business models, was the establishment of Ventures and New Business in April 2022. The business area assigns, develops and grows new businesses outside Scania’s core functions, to broaden the company’s horizons from being purely a vehicle OEM to playing a greater role in the transportation ecosystem.
In April 2022, the Elain team was transferred from Scania Innovation Factory to Scania Ventures at Ventures and New Business. There, they are scaling and commercializing the business ideas that was validated during the Innovation Factory time.
The Elain team is continuing to develop their software platform to measure CO2 emissions. They collect primary data from transport operators’ vehicles and fuels and integrate it with order systems. This allows buyers of transport services to track emissions from their orders in great detail. They can analyse fleet and vehicle usage to evaluate and improve sustainability performance.
Elain already has paying clients, not just in Sweden but in other European countries, including Austria and Germany. Elain’s clients & collaborators include Frigoscandia, sustainable food logistics, Coredination, delivering CO2 footprint for construction transport and Inquire – game changing logistics.
We wish Elain every success with the continuing development. We’ll certainly be keeping an eye on their progress. You can find out more about Elain and their latest progress on their website.
