Last Thursday 21 November, Margherita Marzotto awarded the Gaetano Marzotto Prize per l'Impresa 2019 to Filippo Ferraris of Enerbrain, the Turin-based startup that in just a few years has become a reference point for innovation in energy efficiency at an international level. Together with Giuseppe Giordano and Marco Martellacci, Filippo Ferraris founded Enerbrain in 2015 within I3P at Politecnico di Torino, patenting a dynamic regulation system for heating, cooling, and ventilation systems in buildings. A 'smart little box' that improves air quality, reduces consumption and CO2 emissions, thanks to sensors and algorithms. With a matching app to monitor data and adjust settings in real time. The system transforms large public buildings (such as Turin airport, where it was recently installed) into modern smart buildings.
In addition
to the €300,000 prize recognised for "the ability to generate positive
impacts on the territory and the environment" and a coaching course by
CUOA Business School, Enerbrain was also awarded the Accenture Special Prize.
Enerbrain has developed energy retrofit solutions for large non-residential
buildings that enable drastic cuts in consumption as well as a significant
improvement in indoor comfort and air quality. An IoT technology whose success
factor is the speed and simplicity with which any building can be transformed
into a smart building. In just a few days and without modifying existing
ventilation, heating and cooling systems, the system devised by Enerbrain not
only detects comfort and air quality parameters - such as humidity,
temperature, CO2, and pollutants - but also optimises them in real time.
Thanks to
the machine learning algorithm developed by Enerbrain researchers, the system
continuously refines its programming and offers energy managers modern
management systems. A system
that not only has an impact in buildings, but also contributes to making cities
more sustainable: the energy used for air conditioning in schools, offices, airports,
and hospitals is in fact equivalent to 40% of the world's energy expenditure.
In addition to Enerbrain, at the Gaetano Marzotto Prize 2019, Furio Suggi Liverani, Director of Research & Innovation for Illycaffé, awarded the prize to the incubated start-up Altaii Italia, which creates innovative systems for transforming, preserving and serving food and beverages, for "having been able to combine unique scientific expertise with the skills of craftsmen of a century-old tradition, creating a coffee cup capable of preserving temperature without external energy input, with patented technology certified by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics".
From UniCredit, Sabrina Boifava, WEU Start Lab & Development Programs of UniCredit, awards the UniCredit Start Lab Special Prize for the category "Per l'impresa" to Amiko - a start-up incubated in I3P in 2015 - with the product Respiro, a device capable of real-time monitoring of the use of inhaler drugs for patients with asthma, making use of proprietary sensors, AI and a cloud infrastructure: "for the technology on which it is based and for the benefits achievable by both patients - in terms of quality of life and savings - and pharmaceutical companies - in terms of data that can be generated for research and product development" - said Sabrina Boifava.
Every year, the Gaetano Marzotto Prize supports innovative start-ups and SMEs with a total prize fund of more than 2.5 million euros. The 2019 edition has 500 applications and has awarded 45 start-ups. During the final ceremony at Link Campus University, in Rome, the Prize "dall'idea all'impresa", worth 50,000 euro, was also awarded to Relief, an artificial sphincter against urinary incontinence, low-cost and user-friendly.