Next Energy 4: the startup Nemesys wins

“It’s not the end of a journey, but a new beginning”. These are the words Matteo Scarabelli, Chief Communications Officer of Cariplo Factory, used to close the fourth edition of Next Energy, the initiative sponsored by Terna together with Cariplo Foundation and Cariplo Factory to promote individual talent and support the growth of start-ups.

Eight finalist teams made their presentations online on the morning of June 10 during a fully digital event in compliance with social distancing precautions due to COVID. They presented to a jury of professionals in the energy and innovation sector chaired by Pietro Rosina, Innovation, Digital & Energy Solutions Manager of Terna, operator of the national electricity transmission grid.

Next Energy has been a marathon, it began on 19 September 2019 with a direct streaming event to present the three Calls: “Call For Talents”, “Call For Ideas” and “Call For Growth”. In fact, the programme provides three distinct ways of selecting talent and ideas, with the sole objective of supporting innovative and sustainable projects with a strong interest in the energy sector. It is an important opportunity, both for developing small businesses and for Terna, within the framework of the group’s Open Innovation projects.

During the final on 10 June 2020 the startup NE.M.E.SYS was proclaimed the winner. The startup developed a technology for the production of energy storage batteries for sustainable mobility and mass storage. The system created by the team aims to eliminate the current barriers to the diffusion of zero emission electric vehicles, which explains the acronym New Mobility Electric System, thanks to the production of energy storage batteries capable of being recharged, not only with normal chargers for electric cars, but also by direct injection of low pressure hydrogen.

There were over 50 responses to the call, but only the best made it to the end of the incubation process at Cariplo Factory’s national incubator network, competing for the prized voucher for € 50,000 in acceleration and go-to-market services. From solutions in the field of automation, robotics and energy storage management, to the environmental integration of innovative infrastructures and systems, passing through the digitisation of processes and the safety of those operating in the field: the starting points of the entrepreneurial empowerment programme have been many and the conditions for making new progress are all there. “We have done excellent work this year too. Companies have come out of this programme that we have helped to grow, and which are now helping us in turn to grow from a technological point of view” said Rosina, at the opening of the live event.

Terna's search for innovation does not stop there, however, because the challenge of the energy transition requires ever new skills and points of view. To complete the Next Energy picture are the previously mentioned “Call For Growth” and “Call For Talents”. The first is aimed at startups or existing innovative companies that are able to offer new functional solutions to Terna's operations; the second, on the other hand, is dedicated to young graduates and offers a six-month training course at Terna, at the Campus and with the teams that actively manage the projects.