The second edition of the Next Energy award, promoted by Terna, the Cariplo Foundation and the Cariplo Factory to identify new energy talents in Italy, was won by the Bettery project. The jury, chaired by Catia Bastioli, President of Terna, awarded a voucher of 50.000 euros in services to the best innovative project among the 10 selected within the Call for Ideas, proposed by as many teams of innovators.
Bettery, a project proposed in the Smart Grid & Energy Storage category, intends to bring to the market the eco-sustainable liquid battery with the highest specific energy and the lowest cost. Bettery followed the acceleration path at PoliHub Startup District & Incubator in Milan.
The Team of innovators had the opportunity to benefit from a 3-month entrepreneurial empowerment and acceleration course, curated by Cariplo Factory through a network that includes Polihub, Filarete Foundation, Digital Magics, Impact Hub, dPixel, LUISS EnLabs, ARCA Consortium. The winning project was accelerated with criteria of proximity and specialties with the most appropriate structure for its technological innovation.
The requirements set out in the Call for Ideas that has just ended: team with at least one person under the age of 35 on the date of submission of the application and project based on initiatives and/or technologies with a TRL, Technology Readiness Level, between 2 and 4.
The second edition of Next Energy was characterized by the following qualitatively relevant numbers:
· in the Call for Talents, about 100 new graduates under the age of 28 and a specialist degree in Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Management or Mechanical Engineering less than 12 months ago applied, with a score of 110/110 or 100/100, 10 of which had access to a 6-month internship at Terna;
· in the Call for Ideas, 22 teams of innovators and/or startups established for less than 12 months, of which 10 had access to an empowerment and acceleration path;
- of Call for Growth, 80 startup teams already on the market, potentially able to offer innovative solutions functional to Terna's activities. Managed by growITup, an open innovation platform created by Cariplo Factory in collaboration with Microsoft, the Call for Growth saw 5 teams begin a collaboration process with Terna aimed at defining a pilot project.
“Determination – he said Catia Bastioli, president of Terna – of the teams of innovators who took part in the second edition of Next Energy represents concrete confirmation of the value of training and growth for young talents and their business projects. We are convinced that companies must make a cultural leap and become more and more prosumers of innovation to spread the knowledge economy through original technologies and solutions, also created thanks to the collaboration with startups and the academic world".
“Our young people – he added Giuseppe Guzzetti, President of the Cariplo Foundation – they need opportunities to put their creativity at the service of the production system. Their ideas and their enthusiasm are the basis of this programme, once again created thanks to important collaborations with Terna and Cariplo Factory. Operating alone, and in watertight compartments, does not solve the problems. The problem of youth unemployment must be tackled with a systemic vision. Next Energy is concretely demonstrating how important the alliance between generations, between those with experience and those with the typical energy of young people. Generate job opportunities among young people because those who are already in this area find innovation and stimuli in young people. A double advantage, for the economic system and for the people”.
