U-3ARC U-3ARC Union of Associations of African Actors in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
U-3ARC Union of Associations of African Actors in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

U-3ARC at 21st European Conference on RAC New Technologies

A large delegation from U-3ARC participated in the 21st European Conference on New Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies in Milan on June 12 and 13, 2025. This participation was marked by the presentations of President Madi Sakandé and Saïd El Harch, VP, upon « Cold chain, food distribution and preservation, refrigerated storage and transport, Applicable AI, digital twins and/or predictive maintenance ».

The 21st European Conference featured a rich program, covering the latest technologies in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps, refrigerants, heat pumps, the cold chain, the environment, energy, training, certification, legislation, standards, and safety. The meeting, held from June 12 to 13, 2025, at the Politecnico di Milano, more precisely in the De Donato Room, was punctuated by 7 sessions, including a general introduction and another special session (WOMEN IN REFRIGERATION AND AIR CONDITIONING).

U-3ARC at 21st European Conference on RAC New Technologies

During the general introduction, the conference organizer and secretariat, namely Centro Studi Galileo & Associazione Tecnici del Freddo Renewable Energy Institute, invited E. Macchi, G. Lozza, Politecnico di Milano, E. Buoni, Centro Studi Galileo, M. Buoni, Association for Air Conditioning and Refrigeration – AREA, J. Curlin, United Nations Environment Programme – UNEP and Y. Allouche, International Institute of Refrigeration – IIR to discuss the European and global situation of the RAC sector, the cold chain, technologies, equipment and components, fluorinated gases and refrigerants, energy efficiency and renewable energies and policies and regulations.

Rich exchanges, followed by debates

In collaboration with leading international researchers and experts from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the European Commission's Directorate-General for Climate, the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), the French Association of Refrigeration (AFF), AREA, ASERCOM, ASHRAE, AHRI, EPEE Politecnico di Milano and di Torino, the Universities of Ancona, Genoa, and Padua, and all the European AC&R associations, this 21st Conference featured rich sessions, followed by debates.

Chairs and keynote speakers included ENNIO MACCHI, Professor Emeritus, Politecnico di Milano; GIOVANNI LOZZA, Professor, Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano; JIM CURLIN, Head of OzonAction, United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP OzonAction; YOSR ALLOUCHE, Director General, International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR); MARCO BUONI, Past President with mandate "International Affairs", AREA, Secretary General, ATF, Director, Galileo Study Center; BENTE TRANHOLM-SCHWARZ, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Climate, European Commission; ANDRES SEPULVEDA, Director, Europe Region, American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, ASHRAE; JOHN LANIER, Chief Operating Officer, Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), INA COLOMBO; President, International Network of Women in the Industry of Refrigeration (INWIC), XIANTING LI, Vice President of the Chinese Refrigeration Association, RUSSEL PATTEN, Director General of the European Partnership for Energy and Environment (EPEE), NOBORU KAGAWA, Member of the Board of the Japanese Society of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (JSRAE), COEN VAN DE SANDE, President of the European Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Association (AREA), LAMBERT KUIJPERS, Member of TEAP-RTOC, TOM NICKSON, Climate Campaign Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), MARCO MASINI, President of the Association of European Manufacturers of Refrigeration Components (ASERCOM), MASSIMILIANO FERRARIO, Secretary General of Eurovent, MADI SAKANDE, President of the Union of African Associations (U-3ARC), ANDREA VOIGT, Member of the Board of the Cool Coalition, MAURIZIO MARCHESINI, President of Assoclima, FRANCESCO MASTRAPASQUA, President of Assoclima, ENRICO FABRIZIO, Energy Manager Politecnico di Torino, FABIO POLONARA, Co-President of TEAP RTOC and Director of the Department of Industrial Engineering, Università Politecnica delle Marche, ARMIN HAFNER, Professor, at the Norwegian University NTNU, BJÖRN PALM, Senior Professor, at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and GIULIA RIGHETTI, Professor at Università di Padova. Before the conclusions and recommendations by Y. Allouche (IIF), J. Curlin (UNEP) and M. Buoni (AREA), a 5th Session on the cold chain, food distribution and preservation, refrigerated storage and transport, Applicable AI, digital twins and/or predictive maintenance, was moderated by Y. Allouche, S. El Harch (U-3ARC), W. Shah (CNR Padua) and K. Berglöf (ClimaCheck). Note that this session was moderated by Y. Allouche and chaired by M. Sakandé (U-3ARC), M. Buoni (AREA), and J. Curlin (UNEP). This gave everyone the opportunity to discuss new technologies for the cold chain, food preservation, but also vehicles, trains, ships and cold stores, applications in commercial and domestic refrigeration, supermarkets, hospitals and industries, optimization of energy savings, solar refrigeration. Isolation and environmental control in food processes, safety control in the ATP cold chain.