ORa!, the platform supporting companies in the energy transition

Sixty-one startups selected from 8 countries, 30 meetings between companies and startups, 10 NDAs signed and 3 PoCs launched. These are the results achieved by the ORa! – Outpost Ravenna for Energy Transition project, the innovation platform with a strong international focus on technologies related to the blue and green economy, which aims to support the transition of local companies through partnerships and industrial collaborations with international startups and scaleups.

The project, run by Joule in partnership with Mind the Bridge, concluded with an event at the OMC 2023- Med Energy Conference and Exhibition, with speeches from some of the participating companies and startups.

The initiative is based on three synergistic and complementary macro-activities:

• Training young talent
  A one-year course for recent graduates of the University of Bologna (Master's degree) focusing on open innovation and innovation management applied to the blue and green economy. The training starts with international scouting, followed by matching with local companies and the implementation of Proof of Concept (POC) experimental projects.
• Support and Training for local businesses
  Training for local entrepreneurs on methods and best practices for co-innovation opportunities and key support models and tools.
  Setting up working groups and networking activities to identify the needs of businesses in some strategic sectors in the local area: chemicals, waste management, carbon capture and storage, energy efficiency and security, renewables.
• Business Matching
  Once the needs of local companies have been mapped, national and international startups are selected to carry out joint technological innovation activities (Venture Clients).