NODE-ROMA STRENGTHENS THE GROUP'S INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF SIX EUROPEAN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION CENTERS

• The center extends over more than 6,000 m² in the Tiburtina Valley, with 4,500 m² of covered space, of which approximately 1,500 m² are laboratories and 15 bays equipped for semi-industrial scale pilot plants, for a total investment of approximately €45 million
• NODE Roma will employ a team of approximately 100 professionals and an estimated approximately 300 related jobs in the local area; approximately 300 workers were employed in total during the construction works
• NODE is Nextchem's European network integrating six specialized and complementary centers, in Milan, Brescia, Basel (Switzerland), Sittard (the Netherlands) and Frankfurt (Germany), with a total investment of approximately €125 million and a team of approximately 250 professionals dedicated to research, with an overall induced employment of approximately 600 people
• NODE-Roma is dedicated to the industrialization and validation of the Group's proprietary technologies, as well as being an open platform for collaboration with ITS Academies, universities, start-ups, industrial partners and the financial community, serving the global applied research market
• The hub integrates scientific research, engineering expertise and industrial know-how, enhanced by the computational capacity of AI, in the fields of green hydrogen, sustainable fuels, low-carbon energy carriers, and circular, critical and innovative materials

Rome, 22 October 2026 – MAIRE has inaugurated NODE in Rome, Nextchem's new center dedicated to applied research, development and demonstration of proprietary technologies in support of the energy transition.

The ribbon was cut by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, the President of the Lazio Region, Francesco Rocca, and the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, together with other authorities, alongside the Founder and Chairman of MAIRE, Eng. Cav. Lav. Fabrizio Di Amato, and the Managing Director of Nextchem, Fabio Fritelli.

The new Rome center is part of the NODE ecosystem – Nextchem Operating Research & Development Excellence – Nextchem's international applied research network, which connects specialized and complementary centers to accompany technologies from experimentation to validation at pilot scale and then to industrial scale-up.

The network is structured across six sites, for a total investment of approximately €125 million: Rome, Milan, Brescia, Basel, Sittard and Frankfurt, with a pool of approximately 250 professionals dedicated to research and approximately 600 related jobs. Conceived as a distributed organization for technological innovation, it leverages the specializations of each center and fosters the sharing of expertise and results across the different nodes and Nextchem's business lines.

NODE-Roma, located on Via di Vannina in the Tiburtina Valley, was created as a center of excellence to accelerate the development and validation of innovative technologies, combining scientific research, engineering expertise and industrial know-how: laboratories, pilot plants and AI-enabled computational capacity are integrated into a single platform.

It is conceived as an open and flexible infrastructure extending over more than 6,000 m², with 4,500 m² of covered space, of which approximately 1,500 m² are laboratories, and 15 bays with the relevant utilities for semi-industrial scale pilot plants, for an investment of approximately €45 million. NODE-Roma will employ a team of approximately 100 professionals, with an estimated approximately 300 related jobs in the local area; approximately 300 workers were employed in total during the construction works.

The center's activities currently focus on green hydrogen, new sustainable energy carriers, circular materials and innovative critical materials.

The laboratories are equipped with advanced analytical instrumentation, bench-scale reactors to test different reactions, and walk-in fume hoods housing mini-pilot plants, allowing them to be operated safely. The extensive outdoor pilot area, equipped with all the utilities required to operate the plants, makes it possible to validate technologies at demonstration scale through long-duration test campaigns on plants ready for industrial implementation.

NODE is also an open platform, interconnected with local expertise, supporting both internal activities and projects developed with clients and external partners, serving the global applied research market.

The Via di Vannina site is where MAIRE originated 40 years ago. Today it becomes a center for technological development and industrial demonstration, in keeping with Italy's legacy in chemistry and engineering, from Montecatini to MAIRE. NODE joins the Green Innovation ITS Academy Foundation, presented on 6 October in the same Tiburtina area, and lays the groundwork for creating, in the Tiburtina Valley, an innovation district that spans from technical training to technology validation for industrial scale. The Foundation, promoted by MAIRE together with companies, schools, universities and training institutions in Lazio, trains technicians specialized in decarbonization and circular economy through the free, two-year Energy Transition Specialist course. To complete this pathway, NODE makes available to them laboratories and pilot plants in which to develop and validate the technologies they have learned, up to demonstration scale.

NODE-Roma will also be a cultural hub, with a corporate museum and spaces for MAIRE's industrial heritage and for dialogue with the artists hosted by the Group. This also includes EvolveArt, the competition promoted by MAIRE Foundation and MAIRE, which brings to NODE the eight winning works dedicated to the energy transition and sustainability. This opening reflects the vision of the "humanist engineer": innovation is not only a technological process, but also a cultural act, capable of connecting knowledge, aesthetics and industrial ambition.

Fabrizio Di Amato, Founder and Chairman of MAIRE, commented: "Forty years ago our story began here and today we are starting a new path for the coming decades of the European chemical and energy industry. At NODE, laboratories, semi-industrial pilot plants and technical expertise interact in a space designed to accompany technologies beyond experimentation and bring them to industrial scale. It is the place where memory and future meet: a pathway that allows the new generations to attend a technological high school, continue at ITS, work in a company, further their studies at university, and test their ideas on a pilot plant, creating the open innovation ecosystem of the third millennium."

Fabio Fritelli, Managing Director of Nextchem, commented: "NODE strengthens Nextchem's ability to accompany its technologies along the entire development path, from applied research to validation at pilot scale. Networking complementary expertise, laboratories and demonstration plants allows us to accelerate the maturation of technologies and to work in an increasingly integrated way with clients and industrial partners."