The Sinergy flow startup – with its innovative low-cost, sustainable and high-efficiency battery – is the absolute winner of the Pni 2021, 19th edition of the National Innovation Award. The largest and most widespread Italian business plan competition, promoted by the PniCube Association, was hosted this year in Rome by the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, thanks to the support of the Lazio Region, Lazio Innova, Unindustria, with the main partnership of the Iren Group and the main sponsorship of Intesa Sanpaolo, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and Gilead Sciences. The winners of the Pni 2021 were selected from among the 16 super finalists by a jury composed of exponents from the world of business, university research and venture capital, on the basis of criteria such as the value of the technological content or knowledge, technical feasibility and potential for development, adequacy of the team’s skills, attractiveness for the market.
“We are facing fundamental challenges, even beyond the pandemic. Such as climate change, competitiveness, the renewal of the country’s industrial and economic structures” said Alessandro Grandi, president of PniCube. “The projects presented at the Pni – he added – demonstrate, once again, that they are able to provide a decisive contribution to these challenges, with highly innovative and concrete solutions”. Founded in 2003 to spread the entrepreneurial culture in the research system and support the birth of companies with a high innovation content, over the years the National Innovation Award has selected and accompanied 899 startups to the market, about 50 a year, putting in place networking local networks – public bodies, investors, local businesses and the 51 universities participating in the circuit – and shortening the distance between research and the market.
The final of the Pni 2021, which can be seen on the youtube channel of the University of ‘Tor Vergata’, saw the participation of exponents from the world of business and institutions including the ministers of the University and Research, Maria Cristina Messa, and Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility, Enrico Giovannini, and the Deputy Ambassador of Israel, Alon Simhayoff, who recalled the numerous cooperation projects between universities, research institutes and companies in the two countries. The innovation economy produces 15% of GDP and covers 43% of exports, “said Simhayoff.