Identify new technological solutions that contribute to the digital transformation of Italgas with particular attention to the issues of efficiency and sustainability. It is with these objectives in mind that Italgas, the leading operator in the distribution of natural gas in Italy and the third in Europe, and I3P, Innovative Business Incubator of the Polytechnic of Turin, have chosen to join forces to launch "Ideas 4 Italgas", a Call for Startups.
"In Italgas - commented Marco Barra Caracciolo, Italgas CIO - a transformation process has been underway for some time now that has affected all areas and levels, and has allowed the company to further consolidate its leadership in the sector by creating a new quality benchmark for the services offered. There is no area of our company that has remained untouched by this positive contamination. In order to continue to grow, though, it is necessary to constantly measure oneself against new and different situations. We are therefore curious to find out what this call for startups has in store for us".
"We are proud of the launch of this new joint initiative," said Giuseppe Scellato, Chairman of I3P. "The Calls for Startups are unique opportunities to establish valuable collaborations, able to give life to technologies and transformations with a very high innovative potential. The partnership with Italgas has given us the opportunity to set up an interesting path of design exploration".
The sectors
The sectors on which the Call will focus are energy efficiency in the industrial and residential sectors; car fleet management and staff mobility; monitoring, management and control of the network infrastructure; safety of operators in the field; further development of filtering, transport and storage processes for traditional energy carriers as well as the exploration of "emerging" ones (e.g. hydrogen, gas blending).
Who can participate
Innovative startups already established as well as small and medium-sized innovative companies, with assets, resources and teams dedicated to the presented project (maturity stages: "ready to market", "validated prototype", "prototype", "idea"), can participate free of charge.
How to apply
The collection of applications is open on the Italgas website until December 7th, 2020. Candidates will be evaluated by a committee of experts who will select the finalist projects by December 21st, 2020 and then announce the winners at the final event to be held by the end of January 2021.
The prizes
All call participants who will pass the first selection steps will have the opportunity to get in touch with Italgas and start different routes. Among the possibilities up for grabs are: access to the I3P incubation path, access to Italgas' Mentorship programme and resources to develop a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) with Italgas.
