Eni selects the best startups to develop innovative solutions in “Communications Data Mining”

San Donato Milanese (Milan), 15 October 2021 – Eni, in collaboration with Cariplo Factory, has announced the winners of the call for startups in “Communications Data Mining”, an open innovation initiative in data analytics to monitor and optimise communication processes and interactions with stakeholders. Of the 8 startups involved in the Selection Day, 3 companies were selected:  BLACKBIRD.AI, DATRIX and ASC27 for having developed the proposals with the greatest innovative potential.
These startups will start to hold a course of study with Eni to identify possible areas of cooperation, with the option to engage in a future collaboration. The teams of innovators will have the opportunity to get feedback from Eni and, with the support of Cariplo Factory, test the innovative potential of their products and services in the hugely important and ever-changing communications sector.
Focus on the selected startups:

• For Criticalities Detection, the selected startup is BLACKBIRD.AI, a Californian startup founded in 2017 able to detect fake news and digital disinformation campaigns involving brands and organisations.
• For SDGs intelligence, the selected startup is DATRIX, a Milan-based startup established in 2018, it develops software solutions and sustainable augmented-analytics and machine-learning services.
• For Automated Dataviz, the selected startup is ASC27, it develops a range of solutions based on artificial intelligence and cyber security.

The Selection Day is the result of a design project that began in July with the involvement of Eni's External Communication and Digital & Information Technology units, and defined the innovation areas and their objectives. Seventy-four innovative startups and SMEs were screened for final selection.
Three areas of interest were the focus of the search:

1. Criticalities Detection: monitoring abnormal and critical events in the industrial sector with a particular focus on fake news; capturing “weak signals” as early as possible with a view to taking advance countermeasures; supplementing alert systems for anomalies or event detection with media monitoring systems.
2. SDGs intelligence: monitoring corporate reputation, analysing Big Data from the web so as to stay up to date with current trends in real time; communicating and engaging with stakeholders to improve understanding of the perceived reputation of the company.
3. Automated Dataviz: representing data is increasingly important for both communicators and audiences, across the technical sphere and in communications; creating generative algorithms capable of bridging the gap between what is communicated and what is perceived.

The project marks another step forward in Eni’s digital transformation by contributing to the development of a mutually beneficial innovative ecosystem with startups – essential to achieving the company's strategic objectives.

Cariplo Factory is a leading player in open innovation. It has been supporting Eni since 2018 in developing the Italian ecosystem and the role of startups in the country's digital transformation.