Call

The sustainability innovation accelerator based in Venice and focusing on the development of business ideas and technological solutions for tackling climate change and other environmental challenges.

VeniSIA is an acronym for Venice Sustainability Innovation Accelerator, its mission is to accelerate corporate labs and startups working to achieve environmental SDGs and at the same time develop their market potential using disruptive technologies and strategic innovation. The ultimate aim is not to set up an accelerator in Venice but to make Venice and accelerator.

VeniSIA attracts institutions, businesses and individuals sharing the belief that this is the ideal context for offering ideas and solutions for valid sustainable development challenges in Venice’s fragile and unique environmental ecosystem, but at the same time scalable solutions that can be of benefit to the whole planet.

Eni Joule for Entrepreneurship - In 2008 Eni set up the Eni Award to reward and promote research and technological innovation in the energy and environment fields. Starting from 2021, through Joule, the company has launched a further prize to foster the application, enhancement and transfer of technologies in the energy transition field, helping to develop a sustainable innovation ecosystem. The “Eni Joule for Entrepreneurship” prize was born with the aim of promoting innovative and sustainable entrepreneurship in the field of decarbonisation of processes and products, the circular economy, the fight against climate change, in order to contribute to the energy transition and foster the country’s socio-economic development.

The call is open to teams, university spin-offs, startups, that have developed or are developing innovative business projects that are sustainable not only in economic but also environmental and social terms, with high technological value. The three selected winners will be awarded a prize by the President of the Italian Republic during the Eni Award ceremony held in Rome.

This is the Italian Cleantech Accelerator in the National Accelerator Network of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), launched by CDP Venture Capital Sgr - National Innovation Fund, Eni, LVenture Group and ELIS, and supported by Corporate Partners Acea, Maire Tecnimont, Microsoft and Vodafone. It was founded to identify startups with huge business potential and a solution with zero environmental impact. Road to Zero aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050: a goal that all technologies, products and services aiming to protect and maintain natural resources contribute to.

The selected startups will have the opportunity to adopt the ESG impact measuring methodology with the support of Joule, Elis Innovation Hub and the start-up Open Impact.

ZERO targets software startups with operating MVPs and hardware startups with operating prototypes and defined roadmaps. The acceleration programme is hosted in the Gazometro area in Roma Ostiense.

Joule Discovery Lab is an itinerant, thematic Idea validation programme that aims to provide skills to aspiring entrepreneurs wishing to validate their innovative ideas. The programme is run in cooperation with Gellify and Seedble. The prizes include a development path for the establishment of a real startup in the Open Innovation hub with ELIS Innovation HUB. Participation includes 7 days’ full-time attendance, during which the contributions of startuppers, Eni experts and experts from the innovative ecosystem, Business Schools and top academic contexts will be discussed. Furthermore the participants will have access to tutors and coaches to support their individual growth and development path. 

The programme addresses teams consisting of at least two people aged 18 or over with an innovative idea that can be applied to transversal sectors, not necessarily Energy but also Food & Beverage, Fashion, Real Estate, Automotive and others, but always with reference to the topics of decarbonisation, the circular economy and the fight against climate change.

The WomenX Impact Startup Competition is one of the main events supporting female entrepreneurship. It was set up to offer startups founded by women or which have at least one woman on the board a unique experience of growth and dialogue, extending and consolidating their network and coming into contact with a panel of sector experts.

The programme is open to all startups founded by a woman or which have at least one woman on the Board; all established businesses with a product or service already being marketed or which will be marketed in the coming 6 months; all startups falling into at least one of the following categories: Lifestyle (Fashiontech-Traveltech-Foodtech-Designtech-Influencer Marketing); Sustainable & Circular; Education; Health & Fitness; Fintech & Insurtech. 

The call, launched by the Lazio Region through Lazio Innova, aims to identify innovative solutions to support the ecological and digital transition. This strategic tool sets out to increase the competitive performance of the regional economy, fostering the creation and growth of new businesses.

Startups, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and spin-offs, informal teams (not established or under establishment) consisting of at least three physical persons aged at least 18 with a secondary school diploma.

Basilicata Pitch2Pitch is Eni’s second call for agritech and agro-energy startups. It comes from the development of the “SouthUp!” call, the pilot project promoted by Joule in 2021, aiming to support innovative technological solutions focusing mainly on the protection and enhancement of animal and plant species, resource savings, process efficiency and the marketing of products for the sustainable development of the agricultural chain. The initiative is supported by the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Policies of the Basilicata Region with the cooperation of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, PoliHub, the Innovation Park & Startup Accelerator of Politecnico di Milano and ALSIA, Agenzia Lucana di Sviluppo e Innovazione in Agricoltura, the Basilicata Region body for research and innovation transfers in the farming and agri-food sectors. 

Open to established startups, spin-offs or project teams with registered office or operations in the Southern Italian regions (Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia) proposing innovative products, services or technologies with high development potential. The selected agricultural teams and entrepreneurs may win several prizes – financial support and technical mentoring - depending on their business maturity.