The two young companies Reefilla, with its mobile EV battery charging service and predictive requirement calculation, and Screevo, with its virtual assistance technology that makes it possible to turn voice input into text data and to automate a number of typical business data entry tasks, won the latest edition of Digital Factory, the initiative promoted by Leasys, a Stellantis brand and leader in long-term rental in Italy, and I3P, the Innovative Business Incubator of Politecnico di Torino.
After two selection phases, Leasys and I3P chose the six finalist start-ups and finally declared Reefilla and Screevo winners: the two innovative companies were presented with the award before Giacomo Carelli, CEO of FCA Bank, Rolando D'Arco, CEO of Leasys, and Giuseppe Scellato, President of I3P.
As winners of this edition of Digital Factory, Reefilla and Screevo will now receive funds to develop a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) with which to field test the feasibility of the use case presented, thus working in direct contact with Leasys and Leasys Rent.
The winning projects
Founded in 2021 and incubated in I3P, innovative start-up Reefilla wants to make drivers forget about the problem of charging the battery of electric vehicles by offering a mobile charging service that performs predictive calculations of the moment the need for it arises. The service monitors the car's location and state of charge and, when the battery level falls below a certain threshold, Reefilla proposes a recharge. If accepted, the operator reaches the car and connects the device, which is capable of delivering about 100/120 km of range in 30 minutes, without any need to search for a free charging column nearby, to reach it, and then to move the car when the charging is complete.
Founded in 2021, Screevo has created a virtual assistant that allows people to input data into any system through their voice. The solution uses an AI system to transform voice inputs into text data and, through the use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), to automate repetitive tasks without the need for human supervision. In addition, computer vision technology is provided to recognize items on the screen and simulate users' actions, without the need for such users to interact directly with their device.
Also competing in the Digital Factory final round were Calton, which helps companies collect, aggregate and analyze customer feedback with its customer experience & review management solution; Pigro, which optimizes the sharing and retrieval of information within corporate digital documentation; Jojob, corporate carpooling service designed for the specific needs of commuters; myBiros, whose technology automates the capture of customer information in the onboarding process.
The call for innovation
Launched in January 2022 to seek out innovative solutions that can make a major contribution to the technological and digital transformation of Leasys and Leasys Rent, the new Digital Factory call for innovation has been a great success: in the six weeks in which the call was open, numerous applications were received - up 20 percent compared to the previous edition - from all over Italy and even from abroad.
"We are extremely satisfied with the excellent results obtained from the initiative that we were pleased to undertake with the Leasys group," said Giuseppe Scellato, President of I3P. "For years, our incubator has been carrying out many technology exploration projects in the area of Open Innovation, and Digital Factory has been a particularly valuable occasion to bring together young companies with cutting-edge projects and corporate entities highly sensitive to the opportunities of digital transformation, such as Leasys. The path taken with this call has borne fruit, with benefits for all those involved, and we are ready to support new initiatives to continue fostering the development of the ecosystem of innovative entrepreneurship”.
The 2022 edition of the initiative is part of Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance’s Start&Pulse program, which is based on Open Innovation. This year's call focused specifically on researching technological processes designed to improve both the customer experience as well as internal processes and the management of corporate know-how.