Implementing modern, sustainable and inclusive solutions for the whole country. This is the mission of MOST, the Italian National Centre for Sustainable Mobility, which collaborates with 24 universities (including Politecnico di Torino), the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and 24 large companies to make the mobility system greener as a whole and more digital in its management.
Among the activities promoted in this direction is the MOST Mobility Competition, an initiative funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) that researches, selects and celebrates innovation in the field of sustainable mobility. More than 30 start-ups from all over Italy applied for the 2024 edition of the competition, assessed by a scientific committee and an external evaluation committee made up of experts from industry, venture capital and intellectual property protection. The criteria that guided the selection were the technical and economic feasibility of the presented solutions, the fulfilment of a market need, and the level of innovation.
The 15 finalist start-ups attended the awards event held by MOST on May 20th at Palazzo Emilio Turati in Milan, moderated by journalist Eleonora Chioda and attended by representatives from Eni, UnipolSai, Ferrovie dello Stato, Lutech, Iveco Group and InnovUp. After a live Pitch Competition session, all fifteen young finalist companies were awarded a grant of €100,000 each, for a total contribution of €1.5 million.
Among the award-winning start-ups, three are part of the network of I3P, the Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino, and two are incubated in the ESA BIC Turin program, managed by I3P in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Politecnico di Torino, Links Foundation and numerous other partners.
- Novac, start-up incubated in I3P and ESA BIC Turin and engaged in the development of innovative energy storage solutions, has been awarded a grant for the production of supercapacitors that integrate the batteries of electric vehicles and in space vehicles, increasing their performance and efficiency;
- Volta Structural Energy, incubated in I3P and ESA BIC Turin, designed a solution to enable long-range electric transport in the land, sea, air and space sectors through the implementation of innovative structural batteries;
- RarEarth, pre-incubated at I3P, realises a technology oriented towards the recycling of mineral resources, capable of recovering rare-earth elements from electric motors of two-wheelers and their magnets.
"The MOST Mobility Competition represents an important opportunity that highlights the talent and innovation of Italian start-ups in the mobility and infrastructure sector," said Ferruccio Resta, President of MOST. "The careful selection carried out by our partners has allowed us to identify more than thirty emerging realities, united by a strong determination to meet the challenges of the future. Through this inaugural edition we want to confirm our commitment to promoting the growth of modern companies with high technological expertise on a national scale. It is important to stimulate the change that is taking place, making the most of the new skills that are developing."
