Also for 2018, the appointment with UniCredit Start Lab, the UniCredit initiative created to support young entrepreneurs, innovation and new technologies: an acceleration program divided into multiple actions to give strength to new businesses, from mentoring and network development activities to the assignment of cash prizes, from managerial training to ad hoc banking services.
Again this year, the project is aimed at companies with a high technological and innovative content, in particular startups that have been established for no more than five years, innovative SMEs and natural persons who want to present their business idea and transform it into a company in the short term.
It is possible to apply until 9 April 2018, to the program on the unicreditstartlab.eu website by accessing the "Enter Start Lab" section.
The four scouting areas of the project have been confirmed:
- Innovative Made in Italy: category in which companies with high potential will be sought in key sectors of Italian entrepreneurship such as agri-food, fashion, design, nanotechnologies, robotics, mechanics and tourism;
- Digital: companies and entrepreneurial ideas relating to cloud systems, hardware, mobile apps, the internet of things, B2B and fintech services and platforms will fall into this class;
- Clean Tech: it will be the scope of action of the business plans concerning solutions for energy efficiency, renewable energies, sustainable mobility and waste treatment;
- Life Science: category within which the most important projects in the field of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health care and assistive technologies will be identified.
The selected companies will be able to benefit from the services made available by UniCredit:
- networking services, also digitally through a platform dedicated to open innovation meetings with potential investors and corporate companies (including customers of the bank) for industrial, technological, commercial and strategic partnerships;Mentoring services, with the assignment of a dedicated UniCredit manager in the area for banking needs and at least 4 meetings during the year with entrepreneurs and qualified professionals, UniCredit partners, for periodic discussions on strategic aspects and corporate growth;
- Management training services, thanks to the fifth edition of the Startup Academy, which this year too will be organized with the involvement of leading partners from the world of Italian and international business and communication;
- Four cash grants of 10.000 euros for the project with the highest potential in each category;
- Use of the UniCredit Business Center spaces of Milan as a Working Area.
The fifth edition of UniCredit Start Lab follows the success of the last year, during which there were 797 candidate projects, of which 494 already set up as businesses and 303 new business ideas. Among all, the best 40 were selected: 47% of the overall business plans presented concerned the Digital category, 32% Innovative Made in Italy, 13% Life Science and 8% Clean Tech. 50% of participants in the last edition were aged between 24 and 35, with 20% of competitors over 45. Lombardy, with 160 applications, was the most prolific region in terms of new business ideas, followed from Veneto and Campania, both represented by 93 business plans sent for participation. Female participation is growing – even if still limited in numbers – reaching 20% of the startup projects presented for the first time.
Below are the profiles of the startups that were winners for each category:
For Innovative Made in Italy: Vegea (Milan), a startup that has created an innovative plant material produced through special treatments of the fibers and oils contained in the pomace, i.e. the set of grape skins, seeds and stems that are obtained during the production of wine. The waste from winemaking is transformed into a new raw material that responds to the ever-increasing demand for green and cruelty-free products in the fashion, furniture and packaging sectors.
For Clean-Tech: The Energy Audit (Brescia), creators of the homonymous software platform, training and services for the analysis of energy consumption data, including 4 offline modules dedicated to energy analyzes and 4 online modules dedicated to real-time monitoring. The purpose of the platform is to organize the collected data into predictive models of the energy behavior of a city, a hospital or an industrial asset. Thanks to this approach it is possible to obtain detailed information relating, for example, to the future energy and/or water needs of an entire area or to intercept maintenance problems in the plants well in advance.
For Life Sciences: Novaicos (Novara), a startup that is developing a new drug (ICOS-Fc) that can not only block the loss of bone mass, but also rebuild the architecture of the skeleton, curing osteoporosis.
For Digital: Bandyer (Milan), a startup that has developed its own service dedicated to the B2B segment on WebRTC technology that allows communication without installing any type of software. A video communication cloud service directly from the browser (without software installation) that can be vertically integrated into all company mobile platforms and applications.
