Energising innovation. Startup accelerator opened in Tel Aviv
Enel has decided to launch its Innovation Hub in Israel. The company's first startup accelerator will be inaugurated between the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017. The project in Tel Aviv will precede Enel's similar projects in Silicon Valley and Singapore.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held 11 July 2016 at the Sosa office, one of the main business incubators in the nation, in a formal industrial area renovated in the style of a New York loft. In keeping with true Israeli informality, good results count much more here than wearing trousers to work
Seeing where creativity is headed
Enel has launched its innovation hub in one of the most creative nations in the world. Participants included, among others, the group's CEO, Francesco Starace, and the Italian ambassador to Israel, Francesco Talò.
Each year Enel will select up to twenty startups working in renewable energy and sustainability, and will offer them a local mentor, constant contact with Enel's managers and engineers and an intensive, six-month acceleration programme.
“99% of innovation relies on people, and Israel has an incredible concentration of people and creative energy. That's why we came to invest here. We are well aware of the need for innovation: it's crucial for a company such as ours, if we want to continue to prosper and remain sustainable in our operations”
Francesco Starace, Enel CEO
A startup accelerator, Starace pointed out, will help Enel understand the direction innovation is taking, and to follow. The Italian ambassador to Israel, Francesco Talò, summed it up well in his speech at the opening ceremony at the Sosa: "It's a project that will bring energy to innovation and innovation to energy".
Opening a window for the future
The operating model we will use in Israel has already been tested in South America, and the resulting strategic projects are currently being implemented. The startups in Tel Aviv will be selected by a group of senior representatives from Enel, who will evaluate compliance with our strategic objectives as well as business potential.
“The added value we hope to give the startups is to open a window for the future”
Ernesto Ciorra, Head of Innovation and Sustainability Enel
As Ciorra put it: "When it comes to technology, Italy is very advanced compared to other nations. For an Israeli startup to be able to interface with our advancements can be an extraordinary source of inspiration. And a source of enormous technological advances for us: in Chile, for example, it was the technology developed by a local startup that helped us become the first electrical utility company in the world to give our clients the option of paying their energy bills through Twitter".
“Israelis are naturally creative. They have a mix of talent and tenacity, they're constantly re-thinking things and know how to deal with failure: they are uniquely good at learning from failure”
Ryan O'Keeffe, Head of Communications Enel
Israel is now commonly referred to as the startup nation. According to Saul Singer, author of "Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle": "Israel now churns out more creative ideas than Silicon Valley. The reason is that necessity and adverse conditions have sharpened the creative genius".
It's no coincidence that Israel was able to make a desert bloom and is the only nation in the world that can boast more trees today than it had a century ago.
If they are startups, they will bloom.