Tratos President
Born on 25th April 1951 in Valsavignone, Pieve Santo Stefano, Arezzo, Engineer Albano Bragagni pursued his early education at Liceo Classico Città di Castello. He further advanced his studies in Mechanical Engineering, earning a doctoral degree from the esteemed Alma Mater La Sapienza in Rome. On a personal front, he is happily married to Marta Capaccini, with whom he shares the joy of raising their two children.
Engineer Albano Bragagni is Tratos’s President and responsible for the company’s global operations. His experience and leadership have been pivotal for the company’s success. His wisdom and entrepreneurship skills have been crucial in developing and delivering innovative cabling services and solutions, providing outstanding client service and driving profitable revenue growth.
Eng. Albano Bragagni is the inventor of fusion for energy cable, JBA cable, which in 2018 received the highest recognition by the UK government and won the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation in 2019. For the first time in the history of the award, an Italian-born company like Tratos received such high recognition, and it was among the very few companies to receive this prestigious award for the category.
He represents the story of a child from a humble background, the son of a farmer, who earned his education fees through competing in athletics tournaments. As a young man, Albano was a speedrunner, competing against Italian sprinter – and later politician – Pietro Mennea. Albano was a member of the Athletes of Carabinieri for all his time at the University. Nevertheless, he became a successful entrepreneur and president of Tratos, the world’s leading high-quality cable maker.
Over the last 40 years, Eng. Bragagni has seen considerable change at the company he has worked so hard to see succeed. Today, the company is global. From the earliest point in Tratos’ history, he insisted that cable products met the highest standards. Today, the company looks beyond industry-accepted ‘minimum standards’ and researches and develops cable and cable products that take performance and safety standards ever higher thanks to a thriving culture of innovation.
He was successful in running his family business and as a public servant. In 1985, Engineer Albano Bragagni became mayor of Pieve Santo Stefano and entered the Book of Records for being the longest-serving Mayor in the town’s history. For 29 years, he served as mayor with commitment and passion. He truly believed a municipality should be run just like a business, and Pieve Santo Stefano is now a healthy business. People still remember his vigorous fight against the privatisation of public utilities, like water and sanitation for example, and praise him for building the Museum of Memories, which contributes significantly to preserving history, culture and traditions.
Albano Bragagni is a visionary innovator and accomplished leader with a remarkable track record in the fields of superconductors and sustainable energy solutions. With an extensive career spanning decades, Albano has demonstrated an exceptional ability to drive transformative advancements through collaboration and pioneering research.
Throughout his career, Albano Bragagni has been at the forefront of superconductor technology, playing a pivotal role in developing cutting-edge materials and applications. His collaboration with Enea Italy and Tratos resulted in groundbreaking designs that have been instrumental in enabling the creation and maintenance of powerful magnetic fields for fusion energy. His innovative insights and technical expertise have contributed to achieving efficient containment of high-temperature plasma, a critical step towards realising the potential of fusion energy.
Engineer Albano Bragagni’s work is characterised by his unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge and forging strategic partnerships that accelerate progress. His collaborations have advanced the superconductors field and laid the foundation for a cleaner and more sustainable energy future. With a passion for driving positive change, Albano Bragagni continues to inspire and lead the way towards innovative solutions that have a lasting impact on our world.”
“Albano Bragagni’s influential contributions extend beyond the realm of fusion energy, encompassing his collaboration with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in developing superconductors for pioneering research initiatives. His partnership with CERN showcased his deep understanding of superconductor materials and their application in high-energy physics experiments. By leveraging his expertise, Albano played an integral role in enhancing the performance of superconducting components crucial to CERN’s particle accelerators and detectors. His work elevated the capabilities of CERN’s cutting-edge projects and underscored his commitment to advancing scientific understanding and enabling groundbreaking discoveries at the forefront of modern physics.”
As Tratos president, Eng Albano Bragagni succeeded in transforming Tratos from a small local business to the town’s biggest employer, the world-renowned superior quality cable manufacturer, selling an extensive range of cables to 52 countries, with manufacturing facilities in Italy and the UK and offices worldwide. Tratos fully supports the 2030 development agenda and globally contributes to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Tratos is a family-run business founded in 1966 by the Italian engineer Egidio Capaccini to bring his homeland back from the brink after World War II. It was named after a copper wire drawing mill – “TRA” “TOS” (Trafileria Toscana). Tratos’ mission has been a sole one: to create jobs in the most deprived areas and with it, to continuously support the sustainable development of the local communities by reducing poverty, bringing prosperity and hope for a brighter future for the present and next generations to come.
Since 1974, when Eng Albano Bragagni took over the business, a challenging programme of investments, product diversification and technological growth began. The business grew exponentially thanks to Mr. Bragagni’s eye for innovative new products and a practice of responding intelligently to opportunities in growing markets. Pieve Santo Stefano was no longer enough. Before that, in 1988, a plant was opened in Sicily, near Catania. In 2008, Tratos Cavi planted its flag across the border, inaugurating a Northern England branch in Knowsley, near Liverpool. Again, in delivering on its mission, Tratos is now helping develop one of the UK’s most deprived areas.
He knows the characteristics of each of his products. He has conceived, studied, developed and tested them before laying them across sea, land and air, offering surprising and innovative connection opportunities. Fibre optic, medium and high voltage cables, telephone cables, petrochemical, signalling and superconductor cables. They are used in a wide variety of sectors, including automotive, shipbuilding, railway, defence, port facilities and telecommunications.
In 1978, the company began producing instrumentation and telephone cables, specialising in thermoplastic, elastomeric and expanded polyethene insulation and flame retardant compounds with low smoke and toxic gas emissions. In 1989, optical cables were produced, while medium voltage cables were added in 1992 and high voltage cables in 2015. Most recently, Tratos made possible the first application of Bornewables™ technology in the electrical sector. This technology uses renewable sources, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and helping mitigate climate change’s impact.
Today, Tratos is a brand recognised everywhere as a guarantee of quality and efficiency, with more than 350 employees (250 of whom are based in Pieve Santo Stefano) contributing to a turnover of almost a quarter of a billion euro per year. This couldn’t have been imagined, nor be achieved, without the passion for cables, leadership, contribution and dedication of one man, Eng Albano Bragagni.
