Eni Joule for Entrepreneurship 2025, innovation and sustainability

The Joule for Entrepreneurship award – Joule’s special mention at the Eni Awards – is now in its fifth year of honouring the best innovative and sustainable business ideas. The award goes to teams, university spin-offs and startups, aiming to further the use, development and sharing of technologies, fostering a sustainable innovation environment.

During the ceremony, which took place on 8 October at the Palazzo del Quirinale, three startups selected by Joule received recognition from the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella.  

• Exe Engineering for Environment has developed a patented hardware and software solution with the aim of automating and optimising the collection of biogas from landfills;
• Koalisation Società Benefit operates in the field of carbon finance, implementing high-impact projects based on the social development of indigenous communities and the regeneration of environmental ecosystems;
• Eoliann Società Benefit has developed a platform based on predictive algorithms for the quantification of physical risks related to climate change (e.g. floods, droughts, heat waves) to support data-driven resilience strategies.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eni, Giuseppe Zafarana, and the CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, were present at the ceremony.

Giuseppe Zafarana, in his speech at the Quirinale, emphasised the need to keep investing in science. “The Eni Award,” he said, “is not merely an accolade; it’s a statement affirming that it’s possible to remain hopeful about the future and that it’s essential to invest in science, where our most valuable asset is people.Eni is firmly committed to investing in people and progress, recognising the pivotal role of science in creating innovative solutions.”

Claudio Descalzi emphasised the importance of science and research having a growing influence on society.  “Scientific research,” he said, “stems from a vision, a hypothesis, a formulation, an experiment. The true challenge lies in scaling these advancements from theory to widespread practical use. This award also aims to unleash the potential of knowledge and transform it into kinetic energy, generating solutions that can really affect people’s lives.”

For Descalzi, “Research cannot remain confined to the academic level, measuring its value only through articles and awards. It needs support to move beyond the labs, to engage with industry, and to drive growth, innovation, and the creation of new enterprises centred on influential technologies.” Descalzi continued: ”We must pay close attention to the development of highly technological startups, as they require a nurturing environment that fosters their dynamism without burdening them with excessive rules and regulations before they have fully matured.  There’s a clear reason why only European companies only account for 8% of global unicorns – companies worth at least $1 billion – compared to over 60% from the United States.” Descalzi concluded: “To change direction, we must build a positive ecosystem where institutions and established companies collaborate to nurture the most promising ventures.” 

Now in its seventeenth year, the award is seen as a global standard for research in energy and environmental sectors, highlighting the significance of scientific study and technological innovation for Eni, as well as its dedication to fostering sustainability and energy access. The Scientific Commission, which assesses the submitted research, consists of scientists from leading research institutes around the world and has included six Nobel Laureates.

The Energy Transition award, one of the three principal honours, recognises top innovations for energy system decarbonisation. This year it went to Jeff Dahn from Dalhousie University (Canada) for his pioneering work in energy storage. His research contributed to creating lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries with a potential lifespan exceeding 50 years, using sustainable and energy-rich materials. Thanks to innovative accelerated testing methods and cell designs suited for hot climates, his work helps cut down on premature recycling, encourages reuse, and speeds up the electrification of transport worldwide.

The Energy Frontiers prize, recognising research in renewable energy and storage, went to Professor Lydéric Bocquet from the École Normale Supérieure (France). He earned the accolade for his outstanding contributions to creating a groundbreaking technology that efficiently harnesses osmotic power, derived from the salinity difference between seawater and freshwater. Osmotic energy is a fully renewable source that emits no greenhouse gases, is non-intermittent and globally accessible.

The Advanced Environmental Solutions award, honouring research on the sustainable management and protection of natural resources, went to Philippe Ciais from the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (France). He earned recognition for his pivotal work in measuring, understanding and forecasting how land ecosystems absorb carbon worldwide, regionally, and locally. His research has significant impacts on shaping strategies to mitigate climate change.

The Young Researcher of the Year award is aimed at researchers who have obtained their PhD at Italian universities and was awarded to:

• Maria Basso of the University of Padua, who focused her doctoral thesis on essential materials for tackling global issues such as energy use and water shortage, employing methods with minimal environmental impact. The materials have been tested on innovative sustainable energy applications, including thermochromic smart windows and wet air water collectors.
• Virginia Venezia of the University of Naples “Federico II”, who has helped to develop innovative strategies for the reuse of waste biomass in multifunctional materials. Using sustainable-chemistry methods, she improved the stability and usefulness of waste substances by turning them into sophisticated hybrid materials that can be used in food packaging, environmental safeguarding, and retrieving valuable metals from electronic scrap. His work provides sustainable solutions to environmental challenges, with a view to the circular economy.

The Young Talents from Africa section, created in 2017 to mark the Eni Award’s tenth anniversary and focused on emerging talents from the African continent, this year saw two awards given out to: 

• Asengo Gerardin Mabia of the Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Ivory Coast). His research centres on turning agricultural and agro-industrial waste in Côte d’Ivoire, especially sugar cane molasses and cocoa bean husks, into polylactic acid, a bioplastic that is in high demand and breaks down easily.
• Shimaa Farag of the American University in Cairo (Egypt), whose research aims to provide an innovative, ecological and economical solution for wastewater treatment in Egypt, especially for the removal of heavy metals and antibiotics.

The winning doctoral students receive an award to help extend and deepen their research during the PhD programme at their respective universities.

In the Eni for Innovation section, which selects the most innovative projects by Eni researchers and technical experts, the following received awards: 

• Michele Gerolin, Tiberio Grasso, Luigi Miozza, Alberto Moro (EniProgetti), Simone Ambrosini, Andrea Vignali (Eni) for the patent idea relating to a robotic system, based on real-time processing of acoustic imaging using intelligent vision algorithms, for the detection, location and autonomous characterisation of underwater anomalies;
• Antonio Amico, Andrea Amoroso, Corrado Fittavolini, Francesca Guarnieri, Alberto Landoni, Nicoletta Panariti, Francesco Ricci (Eni) for an innovative technological solution comprising an integrated process for the production of biobenzine, generating an estimated reduction of CO₂ emissions over the entire life cycle of between 60% and 80% compared to traditional fossil gasoline; 
• Alfonso Amendola, Giammarco Gioco, Mario Primato, Simone Sala (Eni); Tommaso Audino, Mario Di Marco (Plenitude); Emanuele Martelli (PoliMi) for their digital decision-support system that uses an optimisation model to assess opportunities for decarbonisation in complex multi-energy systems, starting right from the pre-feasibility study phase.