Next Energy: over 100 teams of innovators and start-ups from across Italy participate in Call for Ideas and Call for Growth

NEWS

12

December 2017

Over 100 projects have been pooled by Next Energy as part of the Call of Ideas and the Call for Growth, both of which closed on 22 November this year.

Call of Ideas, aimed at teams and/or start-ups founded in the twelve months prior to the application date, attracted 22 innovative projects while 80 projects were submitted to the Call for Growth, aimed at start-ups already established on the market with the potential to offer innovative and functional solutions to Terna's operating activities.

50% of candidates who submitted entries to the Call for Ideas had formed a start-up in the last 12 months; 55% came from Northern Italy while Central and Southern Italy accounted for 22.5% each. 36% of the ideas were entered into the Electricity System Services Technology and Solutions category (production, transmission, electricity distribution and infrastructure maintenance); 32% were submitted to Green Technologies and E-Mobility; 18% to Smart Grid and Energy Storage and finally 14% to the Smart Building and Smart Plant category.

In January, the Call for Ideas panel of judges will select the ten most innovative projects or start-ups. The winning entries will have access to a three-month entrepreneurial empowerment and acceleration programme held throughout Italy, at the end of which the panel will award the most promising project with a voucher for € 50,000 to spend on additional services.

Of the 80 start-ups submitted to the Call for Growth, despite only being operational for three years, 61% had already developed market-ready innovative solutions. Again, the north of Italy stood out here, accounting for 41% of total entries; Central and Southern Italy accounted for 24% each while 11% of entries were submitted from abroad.

In terms of the categories in the Call for Growth competition, the majority of applications (20%) came from start-ups operating in the Sensors and IoT monitoring and diagnostics sectors. The category with the second highest number of entries (19%) was New Renewable Energy Generation Systems; Innovative Technological Solutions for Renewable Energy Plants and Hardware and Software Solutions for Data Management and Analysis were next with 16% each, followed by IT Solutions, Services and Applications to be integrated with Terna's infrastructure and digital platforms in fourth place with 15%. Finally, Systems for Computer Imaging and Data Analysis represented 8%, while Photorealistic and Geo-Topographic Systems and Cyber Security came in at 5% and 1% respectively.
In January, the Call for Growth team will select five start-ups that will be given access to growlTup, the open-innovation platform created by Cariplo Factory to promote focused collaboration between companies and innovators.

For more details visit nextenergy.cariplofactory.it.

Media contacts
Terna
Press Office
ufficio.stampa@terna.it
Tel. +39 06 83139081

Cariplo Factory
Matteo Scarabelli, Head of Communications
matteo.scarabelli@cariplofactory.it
Tel. +39 348 2545447

Comin & Partners
Riccardo Acquaviva, Media Relations Manager
Riccardo.acquaviva@cominandpartners.com
Tel. +39 06 90255514 - +39 348 0811485
Federica Gramegna, Senior Consultant
Federica.gramegna@cominandpartners.com
Tel. +39 06 90255521 - +39 338 2229807