“ORA!- Outpost Ravenna for Energy Transition” gets underway

Joule, the Eni business school, and Mind the Bridge have launched the project ORA! – Outpost Ravenna for Energy Transition: an innovation platform with a strong international vocation, focusing on technologies for the blue and green economy that aims to support local business transition, through partnerships and industrial collaborations with start-ups and international scale-ups.

The ORA! project is based on three synergic and complementary macro-activities

• Training young talents: a one-year training programme for fresh graduates from the University of Bologna (master degree) with a focus on open innovation and innovation management applied to the blue and green economy. The training programme includes topics running from international scouting to matching with local businesses and the implementation of experimental projects (PoC – Proof of Concept);
  
• Support and Training for local businesses:

- Training for local entrepreneurs on methodologies and best practices relating to joint innovation opportunities and the main models and support tools.

- Creation of working groups and networking activities used to identify business needs in some strategic local supply chains: chemical, waste management, carbon capture & storage, energy efficiency and safety, renewables.

• Business Matching: having mapped the local business needs, national and international start-ups will be selected to perform joint technological innovation activities (Venture Clients).

The launch event was attended by the companies participating in the initiative involved by Assorisorse (Baker Hughes; Techfem S.p.A.; DG Impianti (Italfluid group); Bonatti SpA; Myrechemical/Nextchem; Rina Consulting; Snam; Fores Engineering; Frigomeccanica Group; Rosetti Marino SpA; LAND Italia srl; SICIM; Minerali Industriali) and the students of the University of Bologna. The event aimed to work on the needs of the participating companies and establish round tables with the students in order to develop the challenges to be worked on, leading to the identification of the international start-ups that can respond to the business needs in the best way.

“The ORA! project,” - explains Mattia Voltaggio, head of Eni Joule, “represents another major hub in Italy for our Business School, and allows us to contribute to bringing innovation to the supply chains in the blue and green economy. The collaboration between young talents, start-ups and businesses in the Ravenna area is a fundamental step towards strengthening the international value of the local ecosystem.”

For Alberto Onetti, Chairman of Mind the Bridge, “the time has come to 'democratise' open innovation. Taking it beyond the technical fields of large companies, disseminating it as a paradigm, a development process from both SMEs and new figures approaching the world of work today. As the Funky Professor Marco Zamperini said, "the mind is like a parachute, you have to open it to make it work". And this is what we are striving to do with the ORA! project Along with Eni Joule and the municipality of Ravenna: transforming this region into a local innovation model open to the world, through venture clients.”

For the students, the ORa! project will continue with training, including lectures, group sessions and opportunities for hybrid networking (online and in person at the Joule facilities at the Gazometro, in the Ostiense district in Rome) during the following eight weeks. In this way, they will approach the topics of open innovation and innovation management, with a focus on the Green and Blue Economy, and will be able to work with the Innovation Advisors of Mind the Bridge on technological scouting activities run for the companies participating in the project.

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In turn, the companies will have the chance to find innovative solutions to integrate in their business and participate in networking activities, including the Open Innovation Club, which aims to provide connections and opportunities for international networking. During the OMC - Med Energy Conference & Exhibition to be held in Ravenna - the round tables of businesses, students and start-ups will be officially launched.