Restoring autonomy and freedom of movement to people, albeit in two different fields, is the mission of both Hemera and Alba-Robot, the two start-ups that won ex aequo the 18th edition of the Italian Master Startup Award (IMSA), promoted by the PNICube network and organised in collaboration with I3P, the business incubator of Politecnico di Torino, with the support of Regione Piemonte through the resources of the European Social Fund Plus and the patronage of MiMit, MAECI, ASviS and the Italian Embassy to the Holy See.
The awards ceremony took place in the afternoon of September 25, 2024, in the Agorà Hall of I3P in Turin and streamed online, as part of the ‘Side Events’ of Italian Tech Week. One of the aims of the event was to showcase young innovative companies that have already made an economic and social impact, creating new investment opportunities and enabling investors to better assess their potential and decide to support them.
"Venture capital often tends to focus on short-term results and in the ICT sector," said Paola Paniccia, President of PNICube and Delegate for business development, start-ups, and spinoffs at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. "We, on the other hand, are also committed to supporting deep-tech start-ups, which require greater investment and longer development times, helping them to get out of research labs. This is a complex process for which a systemic approach to innovation and long-term vision are required. Initiatives such as those planned by Invitalia with PNICube are crucial to address these challenges."
Giuseppe Scellato, President of I3P, is also convinced of this: "It is crucial that support for these companies, whose results will emerge over time, becomes structural and one of the main assets of the country's industrial policy. The risk otherwise is that they will not achieve sufficient resources to be competitive with foreign start-ups."
The winners of IMSA 2024 were selected from the eleven finalists in the competition. Up for grabs, a €10,000 cash prize co-financed by I3P and the chance to enter the radars of major companies and investors thanks to prestigious collaborations with Invitalia, OSIF (Osservatorio Scientifico Imprese Femminili di Università Roma ‘Tor Vergata’), EIT Digital, Business France-Public Agency for the Internationalisation of the French Economy and GammaDonna.
The awards ceremony was preceded by the speech of Francesco Profumo - former Italian Minister of Education, Universities and Research - who focused on the evolution of the start-up ecosystem born from the academic world, followed by the panel "Start-ups from Research for Sustainability" with contributions from Francesco Morgia (Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy), Luigi Gallo (Invitalia), Stefano Marzario (EIB-European Investment Bank), Francesco Ferrante (PNICube Executive) and Michela Mari (OSIF).
At the top of the podium
Alba-Robot, which competed in the Industrial category, is an indoor micro-mobility and pedestrian space platform that transforms the transportation of people using fleets of autonomous vehicles. Through its fleet management platform, it provides autonomous/assisted mobility services within facilities such as airports, hospitals and museums, or in pedestrian areas, to restore autonomy and independence to people, in line with the UN SDG goal ‘Reducing Inequality’. Founded in 2019, it was elected the I3P Start-up of the Year in 2023 and now has 5 patents, 3 of which international.
"We are proud of this prestigious award that rewards the work done over the years by our team of 30 engineers under 30 on extremely innovative technologies and internationalisation," commented Lorenzo Sabaini, Alba-Robot Product Manager. "We are certain that it will give us a further boost to go and conquer new markets, starting with the USA."
Hemera, in the Life Sciences / MedTech category, has developed REMaST®, a cell therapy that is set to be the first in the world capable of effectively regenerating neural tissue for the treatment of spinal cord injuries. Founded in 2021 as a spin-off from the University of Verona and the University of Milan, the biotech company specialises in regenerative medicine for neurological diseases. Hemera's therapy uses a particular type of autologous immunity cells that are trained in vitro to best express their reparative capabilities even in a hostile environment such as the spinal cord, with possible extensions to other neuro-degenerative conditions.
Cristiana Vignoli, CEO of Hemera, commented on the award received: "A great recognition that comes at a crucial time for Hemera, which has a capital raising round underway. We already have a lead investor, and concluding the round as soon as possible means being able to activate the authorisation procedure at the European Medicines Agency and finally enter the clinic to prove the efficacy of our therapy."
The winners of the special awards
The Invitalia Special Prize, in services, for the best female-led start-up, in collaboration with the Osservatorio Scientifico Imprese Femminili - OSIF, was awarded to Helios Domotics - LIT, which developed an advanced solution for monitoring energy consumption.
The Special mention went to the innovative wearable technologies for remote patient monitoring by Heremos.
"The award and the special mention we chose to confer today," commented Luigi Gallo, Head of the Incentives and Innovation Business Unit, "go to initiatives that are not only innovative, but are led by women. And this testifies to the Agency's commitment to incentivising female participation in order to realise and enhance research and development projects in innovative and sustainable areas, contributing to the creation of advanced technological solutions, as in the case of Helios Domotics and Heremos."
The EIT Digital Special Prize for the best start-up in the ICT category was awarded to Young Platform, an innovative company - alumnus of I3P - in the financial sector offering services in the cryptocurrency market.
All finalist start-ups wishing to set up in France will have the opportunity to receive free support from Business France.
