HIGH PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING SOCIETA A RESPONSABILITA LIMITATA

Their core work

HPE is a Modena-based engineering company specialising in high-performance power electronics and motor drive systems for electrification applications. Their work spans the design of high-reliability motor drives for electric propulsion — covering both aerospace (electric aircraft) and automotive (electric vehicles) — through to the integration of Silicon Carbide (SiC) power semiconductor components into inverters and conversion systems. Based in Italy's premier high-performance engineering region, they bring rigorous industrial standards to the emerging eMobility and smart grid power conversion space. In EU research projects they contribute as a specialist technology partner, applying power electronics expertise to both aerospace-grade reliability requirements and the broader European clean energy transition.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

HPE's early H2020 engagement centred on system-level electric propulsion: electrical machines, power electronics, and motor drives for electric aircraft and ground vehicles — broad applications that reflect a general electrification engineering capability. By their second project, the focus had narrowed and deepened considerably to Silicon Carbide semiconductor technology: the materials, the European value chain, and the specific power conversion components — inverters — that enable eMobility and smart grids. This trajectory shows a deliberate move from system-level propulsion engineering toward component-level mastery of wide-bandgap semiconductor applications, which is precisely where the competitive frontier in power electronics now sits.

HPE is moving deeper into SiC-based power electronics, suggesting future project contributions will cluster around high-efficiency inverter design, EV charging infrastructure, and industrial automation applications where SiC's thermal and switching-frequency advantages over silicon are most commercially significant.

How they like to work

HPE has operated exclusively as a consortium participant across both H2020 projects — they have never taken a coordinator role, positioning them firmly as a specialist contributor rather than a project orchestrator. Despite only two projects, they have worked alongside 54 distinct partners across 13 countries, which reflects their participation in large, multi-stakeholder research consortia typical of MSCA-RISE and Innovation Action schemes. This pattern suggests they are sought for their focused technical contribution to specific work packages — motor drive engineering or power electronics hardware — rather than for programme management or consortium leadership.

HPE has engaged with 54 unique consortium partners spanning 13 countries across just two projects, a count that reflects the scale of the large EU consortia they join rather than a broad bilateral network of their own. No repeated partner clusters are identifiable from two-project data, but the international spread suggests comfort working in diverse European and potentially global research teams.

What sets them apart

Based in Modena — home to Ferrari, Maserati, and a dense ecosystem of precision and high-performance engineering suppliers — HPE operates in an industrial culture where performance margins and reliability tolerances are treated as non-negotiable constraints, not aspirations. Their combination of motor drive engineering and SiC power electronics expertise is relatively narrow and specialised, sitting at the exact intersection of power conversion hardware and clean propulsion applications that European Green Deal industrial policy is now accelerating. For consortium builders needing a credible Italian industrial partner with deep-tech credentials in both aerospace electrification and EV power electronics, HPE fills a specific and hard-to-replicate slot.

Highlights from their portfolio

• TRANSFORM
  The only project with recorded EC funding (EUR 300,382), TRANSFORM targets a strategic EU industrial priority — building a sovereign European SiC semiconductor value chain — giving HPE direct exposure to both materials supply chain and end-application (inverter, eMobility) challenges.
• DORNA
  A long-duration MSCA-RISE project (2020–2025) addressing one of the hardest reliability challenges in electrification — motor drives for electric aircraft — where safety and thermal constraints far exceed automotive requirements, signalling HPE's ability to work at aerospace engineering standards.