Italian excellence in high-altitude engineering has just reached a new summit, this time, on a continental scale.
CDC Cableway Design & Construction has been ranked #3 in Europe in the prestigious FT1000 – Europe’s Fastest-Growing Companies, the annual ranking compiled by the Financial Times and Statista that identifies the 1,000 European businesses with the strongest revenue growth. Within that result, CDC stands out further as the #1 Italian company in the entire ranking, and the #1 company in the logistics and construction industry category — out of tens of thousands of competitors across 31 countries. A result that speaks not just to financial performance, but to a clear and unwavering industrial vision.
The FT1000 ranks companies based on compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a multi-year period, measuring only organic revenue growth. The bar to entry is high by design, which makes landing at third place across the entire continent a result that demands attention.
From Bolzano to the Top of the European Continent
Founded in Bolzano in 2014 by Helmut Gurndin and Alexander Philippov, CDC was born from over two decades of expertise in ropeway engineering and an audacious conviction: that aerial infrastructure could be reimagined from the ground up.
“Ropeways can become the backbone of next-generation transport and construction systems,” Philippov has explained. That vision has since translated into one of the most dynamic growth trajectories in European industry.
At its core, CDC’s competitive advantage is technological independence. Years of sustained investment in research and development led to the creation of AirBridge® — a patented ropeway system conceived, designed, and manufactured entirely in South Tyrol. With 52 patented innovations, AirBridge® reimagines traditional ropeway infrastructure as a lightweight, modular, and low-impact mobility solution capable of connecting mountains, islands, construction sites, and natural areas with minimal environmental disruption.
“Our mission,” says Philippov, “is to allow the infrastructure to adapt to nature, and not vice versa.”
A Global Footprint, an Alpine Soul
Today, the majority of CDC’s revenues come from international markets — a testament to how successfully the company has exported the quality and precision of Italian engineering beyond national borders.
Among those markets, Saudi Arabia stands out as the primary engine of growth. Through a strategic collaboration with Haris Group, CDC has embedded itself at the heart of the Kingdom’s transformational Vision 2030 program, contributing to landmark developments including NEOM Trojena and AlUla, projects that are literally reshaping how communities connect with their landscapes.
By transplanting Alpine know-how into desert and mountain terrain, CDC has demonstrated a rare ability: to make its solutions universal without sacrificing their identity.
A Pattern of Recognition
The FT1000 achievement does not exist in isolation. It follows a recognition that Haris Today already had the pleasure of reporting: CDC’s inclusion as the #1 company in Italy in the “Leader della Crescita 2026“ (Growth Leaders 2026) ranking, published by Il Sole 24 Ore and Statista. That ranking placed CDC at the summit of Italian growth with an extraordinary +503.37% revenue increase over three years, a figure that already hinted at what was to come on the European stage.
Taken together, these two recognitions paint a coherent picture: a company that is not merely growing fast, but growing right — through innovation, international ambition, and an engineering model that integrates sustainability at every level.
Engineering as a Statement
What makes CDC’s story remarkable is not just the numbers, but what they represent. In an era where growth is often synonymous with scale-for-its-own-sake, CDC has built its trajectory around a fundamentally different premise: that the best infrastructure is the one that leaves the smallest footprint while enabling the greatest human possibility.
From the Haris Group team, our warmest congratulations to CDC, to Helmut Gurndin, Alexander Philippov, and the entire team. This is not just a milestone for a single company, it is a statement about what Italian engineering, at its finest, can achieve on the world stage.
