Date
June 28, 2018
Place
Milan
The Commission on Innovative Made in Italy - The Winners
The Commission on Innovative Made in Italy met on June 27, 2018 to decide the winning startup proposal for the sector.
The commission chose among eleven finalists pre-selected by UniCredit Start Lab Team. The Commission was composed of senior executives from leading Italian companies such as:
Nicola De Cesare, Commercial & Business Development Director, Technogym
Massimo Dell'Acqua, Managing Director, Trussardi
Paolo Filipin, QVC
Gianluca Giovannetti, Innovation and Business Services Central Director, Amadori
Laura Rocchitelli, President, Rold Group
After some debate, winning Innovative Made in Italy startup proposal was HEXAGRO URBAN FARMING, the company develops easy-to-use and customisable designed indoor gardens to decentralise food production and reconnect people to nature. Its first product is the Living Farming Tree, a modular, scalable and automated vertical garden producing pesticide-free greens to offices and hotels while incrementing air quality and employees/customers wellbeing. It uses aeroponics technology to produce healthy and delicious produce 5x faster, saving up to 90% water than traditional agriculture and 55% in maintenance costs. The startup wins a €10.000 cash prize.
The commission awarded second place to HIRIDE SUSPENSION, the startup designs, develops and manufactures smart active suspension for different bike categories, from mountain bikes to the gravel and endurance branches. The company already launched on the market the first ever electronic suspension for road bikes. The system, based on sophisticated algorithms developed and patented by the company, is able to analyze frame vibrations and to automatically adapt suspension stiffness to any ground type in less than 20 milliseconds.
Third place went to DUE DI LATTE, the startup transforms the overproduction and wast of milk into high-quality fabric using innovative bio-engineering technologies. The milk-based fabric is fully organic, soft, light, and it has antibacterial and moisturing properties thanks to the aminoacids released on the skin, which come from casein, the milk protein that is inside the textile fiber. The milk fabric is particularly suitable for high-sensitive skins, such as those of kids.
Additionally, the commission has decided to award two special mention to LUMINOUSBEES, the company produces micro drone swarms endowed with LED lighting devices, in order to realize original light shows, both indoor and outdoor. The second special mention goes to GRAFFITI FOR SMART CITY, the startup produces and installs artistic and sustainable "smartwalls" embedding smart sensors. Smartwalls interact with users smart devices and collect data on environmental conditions (traffic, public transport, etc.) to optimize public mobility services, ensure citizens' safety, increasing connectivity services and produce statistics useful for an optimal planning of Smart City services.some debate
To read more about all eleven of the 2018 UniCredit Start Lab finalists in the Innovative Made in Italy category, please click here.
