A bridge between Italy and Silicon Valley for the most innovative startups

One place springs to mind as far as innovation is concerned. A very specific place where technology is born and develops at a constant and uncontrollable pace. Where the best ideas are turned into tangible projects that will steer our future. We are talking about Silicon Valley, the heart of the world’s innovation ecosystem. Terna went to the San Francisco Bay Area to seek out new technological solutions that could better support the evolution of the national electricity system, and to promote Italian innovation through connections with global excellence.

In recent weeks, a delegation from the company that manages the national electricity system, led by CEO Giuseppina Di Foggia, went on an innovation journey. In addition to a series of meetings with various players from the Californian ecosystem, Terna signed a letter of intent with the Consul-General of Italy in San Francisco, Sergio Strozzi, and a memorandum of understanding with the Italian Innovation and Culture Hub of INNOVIT, sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseen by the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco.

Promoting Italian innovation in Silicon Valley: Terna-INNOVIT agreements. There are three main objectives of the agreements signed by Terna and INNOVIT in early November in San Francisco: to promote the Italian innovation ecosystem abroad through connections with the most cutting-edge companies; to support the development of innovative Italian startups and SMEs, and to facilitate their access to the market and US stakeholders. The objectives are the subject of two agreements.

Specifically, Di Foggia and the consul Strozzi signed a letter of intent setting forth the mutual desire to facilitate the search by Italian startups for growth opportunities and local technological partners. At the same time, Massimiliano Garri, Head of Innovation & Market Solutions at Terna, and Alberto Acito, Director of the Italian Innovation Hub at INNOVIT, signed a memorandum of understanding outlining the activities intended to achieve the objective.

As planned, the three-year partnership will involve the development of joint initiatives to accelerate and support innovative Italian businesses with the greatest potential, in order to facilitate relationships and business opportunities. Terna and INNOVIT will also share the development of Open Innovation initiatives with parties from their respective networks.

«We asked ourselves how Terna and INNOVIT could support and help the Italian innovative ecosystem to grow, while consolidating and strengthening the link between Silicon Valley and Italy», explained Acito. «This is the first of our three objectives. The second is support for INNOVIT acceleration programmes on ‘cleantech’ and the energy transition using Terna’s unique expertise. The third is linked to the promotion of Open Innovation initiatives, which Terna has already started developing and will continue to do so in the future».

INNOVIT, the Italian Innovation and Culture Hub that promotes Italy abroad. INNOVIT is the Italian Innovation and Culture Hub based on a public-private partnership model that promotes Italy abroad. It is sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and coordinated by the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco and by the Italian Embassy in Washington DC. Alberto Acito is also at the helm of the INNOVIT Innovation Hub in San Francisco. He arrived in California over 10 years ago after working at the most senior levels at mobile and internet companies.

«In San Francisco I began my career in venture capital», he explains. «Then I started working on an extremely challenging project that involved opening an overseas investment office at the Consulate. There are now 22 offices across the world. It was an extremely interesting initiative when you consider that 5 or 6 years ago, Italy and its expertise were excluded from tech investments in the Bay Area. This showed me just how important it was for our country to have promotion outposts that help Italy and its businesses to make a name for themselves abroad. It’s why I agreed to direct INNOVIT last year».

INNOVIT is an experimental project with two fundamental objectives: to promote Italy as an innovation ecosystem in Silicon Valley, and to support innovative Italian startups and SMEs through promotion actions and acceleration programmes. At the same time, it aids larger companies as an integration and connection platform with the Californian tech world.

«The project was not created overnight; it required years of development, despite the essential backing that came following a visit to Stanford in 2019 by the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella. It was the first time an Italian president had visited Silicon Valley since the former Head of State, Sandro Pertini», recalls Acito. «We should also mention that support from the Italian Consulate and ICE offices was fundamental, but the innovativeness with which this initiative was promoted was also interesting, since it leveraged tools associated with innovation such as culture, and a public-private partnership that is now bearing its fruits».

One year after its creation, INNOVIT has yielded significant results: «We created four acceleration programmes for innovative SMEs and three for startups, which received excellent feedback. We successfully brought in 220 people to INNOVIT including experts and speakers, and over 100 businesses and 168 entrepreneurs have come to California to take part in 180 education and training sessions organised by INNOVIT», notes Acito.

Today in Silicon Valley, INNOVIT is becoming a benchmark for experimental projects. «All the Consulates here in California have come to study what we’ve done and how to replicate it. We have been visited by many investment agencies and universities. The local community also played a key role: this place represents the best of Italy and is becoming a centre of activity for the Italian community in Silicon Valley, which has waited for somewhere like this for some time», he concludes.

The innovation of the future will see drones, exoskeletons and artificial intelligence. The partnership with INNOVIT is not the only Terna initiative in Silicon Valley. Between 2 and 6 October 2023, the ‘Scale Up Summit' organised by Mind The Bridge played host to Terna’s Innovation Journey, with participation from innovation and asset management professionals from the Italian national transmission grid operator.

«We organised scouting specifically for startups that work with smart robots and generative artificial intelligence», explains Daniele Vitullo, Head of Ideas and Solutions Scouting at Terna. «The basic concept was to survey the world that combines robotics and artificial intelligence, starting with two questions: what happens to an energy company when robots start to become intelligent? And: what are the repercussions on the business and operating activities?».

In Silicon Valley Terna has made contact with a series of businesses that could provide useful tools and solutions for its needs. Its priority is a solution that could further improve and make several operating activities even safer, especially those involving risk when performed by a human being, such as inspections of confined areas (culverts, tunnels or tanks), network monitoring activities during extreme weather events, or even predictive maintenance.

«Scouting allowed us to find and assess a series of solutions that we will soon test. These include a startup’s drone that can enter confined areas and detect the status of a given asset without risks to the operator». Another involves the use of an exoskeleton, currently used by the US Navy Seals, which supports the operator’s muscles during inspections, while climbing and walking, by considerably increasing physical endurance. «Lastly, we chose a third solution that uses an artificial intelligence and dataset tool to provide a status report on a given asset and, in case of an anomaly, to suggest a solution to resolve it», says Vitullo.

During the Innovation Journey, the Terna delegation also visited a Stanford University robotics laboratory. «We saw a glimpse of the future and handled extremely new technologies. It helped us understand what to expect in five or ten years», concludes Vitullo.

Innovation Antenna, the Terna outpost in Silicon Valley. Terna has collaborated with Silicon Valley businesses since 2020 and, in the second half of 2022, launched an even more structured presence in the Bay Area, known as the cradle of high-tech excellence. In particular, Terna set up an outpost in San Francisco, the “Innovation Antenna”, with the aim of physically overseeing the innovation ecosystem in Silicon Valley, and establishing direct contact with innovative companies on American soil.

Not only do professionals from the Terna innovation team in San Francisco scout for innovative projects intended to overcome the challenges of the energy transition, they create effective relationships with startups and other innovation players in the United States. They also liaise with professionals from large companies, including Italian ones, by sharing their experience and know-how. With the ideas developed in California, Terna is already testing robotics, drone and augmented reality projects in Italy.