The project, funded by the Science and Innovation Missions Programme (CDTI), is being carried out by a consortium led by SisTem and with the participation of Sacyr Conservation, Alsa, Vodafone, Anteral and Grupo Infonorte. With a budget of four million euros, it was launched in October 2024 and will last until December 2025.

A safer, more connected and smarter road

Iconica's objective is clear: to transform road infrastructure into active components of mobility.

To this end, the consortium is working on solutions that:

•    Improve road safety through smart and predictive technologies.
•    Facilitate real-time communication between vehicles and infrastructure over 5G networks.
•    Integrate elements such as intelligent beacons, capable of transmitting alerts or even modifying the use of lanes depending on traffic.
•    Increase the protection of vulnerable users, such as roadside workers, through their geolocation and communication to digital navigation platforms.

The role of Sacyr Conservation

Within the Iconica project, Sacyr Maintenance leads two key lines of research. On the one hand, it develops IoT geopositioning devices to signal temporary or mobile works, which will be integrated into the STEP (Safer Transport for Europe Platform) platform.

Secondly, it investigates flexible beacons, which allow additional lanes to be opened or closed remotely, based on traffic prediction algorithms that use data from the infrastructure and the connected vehicles themselves.

"We already have a prototype of beacons installed in a project in Huelva to study their resistance to the passage of heavy vehicles and the effects of heat, rain and dust," explains Álex Otero, innovation project manager at Sacyr Engineering and Infrastructures.

Iconica is integrated into Vodafone's STEP mobility platform, which centralizes data and informs drivers about incidents on the road, such as workers, objects on the side of the road or stationary machinery.

The data and incidents collected are communicated to STEP and also shared with DGT 3.0 (Spanish Traffic Authority), which makes it possible for applications such as Google Maps, Waze or Here to alert drivers of possible risks on their route.

Another of Sacyr Conservation's lines of work focuses on traffic modelling and prediction. The behavior of traffic on the A-3 is currently being analyzed with the aim of planning works, causing as few disruptions as possible to users and anticipating traffic jams.

"The most important thing for Sacyr Conservation is to improve safety and protect people who work on the road, geolocate them and alert drivers in real time," adds Álex Otero.

Patricia Muñoz Pequeño
Sustainability Manager
Strategy, Innovation and Sustainability Division

In hindsight, sustainability reporting has undergone significant changes in recent years. Gone are the days when companies like Sacyr, with unwavering commitment and sensitivity to these issues, voluntarily provide information relevant to their ESG strategies and performance using internationally recognised frameworks, with GRI at the forefront.

With the adoption of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NRFD) in 2014, and its Spanish transposition in Law 11/2018, sustainability reporting became a legal obligation and, since that time, the importance of these reports has only grown.  

In 2023, with the goal of defining a clear framework for sustainability reporting that would ensure the quality of the information published, data comparability, and the consistency of the information shared by companies, the European Union approved a new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) with common reporting standards known as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

But misgivings and opposition to this new regulation soon arose from the private sector; first, due to the technical complexity and breadth of its requirements and the difficulty of implementing them, highlighting the need for further clarification in certain areas, as well as greater flexibility in their application. 

Secondly, the smaller companies affected expressed doubts about their capacity to comply with this new regulation using their own resources and the potential damage that would be caused by the additional costs required for this purpose. 

The foregoing is paired with a deeper reflection on the part of the European Union; in a complex international environment facing major global changes, ensuring the autonomy, competitiveness, and resilience of the European economy without abandoning the sustainability commitments it has made, has become more crucial than ever.  

This has prompted the EU to redefine its roadmap, while keeping its ambition intact, as demonstrated by i) the strategy of the Green Industrial Deal, designed to strengthen the competitiveness of European industry while accelerating decarbonisation, and ii) the Omnibus Package, the main objective of which is to reduce the administrative burden on companies when reviewing various sustainability regulations, without renouncing the principles of the European Green Deal. 

From a reporting perspective, the Omnibus Package affects CSRD requirements as follows: 

-    Simplification of standards, reducing the number of requirements and providing greater technical clarity in their application. These texts are expected to be available in Q4 of 2025. 
-    Two-year postponement of entry into force for companies, allowing more time to adapt. 
-    Redefinition of application thresholds, excluding listed SMEs and modifying the ranges for the rest. 
-    Maintenance of limited assurance, eliminating the possibility of reasonable assurance in the future.  

In short, 2025 marks a turning point in this area, reflecting the European Union’s commitment to moving toward a more sustainable economy without jeopardising business competitiveness.