Enel Innovation Hub Europe is part of the network of ten collaborative spaces for startups that the Enel Group has created to develop its relationship with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and identify startups and SMEs able to solve the innovation challenges of its business.
The initiative is not an accelerator and does not invest in the capital of startups, but rather offers a mutually beneficial collaboration model in which Enel acts as an industrial partner. In this way, the final objective is for the startup to develop its business and grow through its relationship with Enel.
Among the services it offers to startups are its know-how, the various infrastructures and laboratories for testing, as well as scalability through access to its operations and its base of 70 million customers in more than 30 countries.
The collaboration (proof of concept, pilot, project, commercial relationship, etc.) and its duration are defined according to the degree of development of the solution and its fit with the business need. In this sense, and with reference to the financing received by the startups that belong to the Enel initiative, this depends on the collaboration that is established. In some cases, the business line can enter into co-development of the solution and make an economic contribution, without entering into the capital of the startup.
Some of the startups that are part of Enel’s portfolio of collaborations are Athonet (Italy), Envelio (Germany), Form Energy (USA), Nido Robotics (Spain), Nozomi Networks (Italy) and Percepto (Israel), as well as other international ones. In the last four years the startups with which Enel has collaborated have received forty million Euro in revenues from the company.
The Santander International Entrepreneurship Center (CISE) is an institution that fosters the entrepreneurial spirit and promotes the creation of startups throughout the country.
With the support of Banco Santander, the University of Cantabria and the Government of Cantabria, it develops top quality training programs through which students of different levels and professionals stimulate their creativity and learn essential skills such as leadership, team management, communication or the design of new business models.
In addition to online training and its own initiatives such as Ecuadrado, CISE coordinates Banco Santander’s international pre-incubation program Explorer ‘Youth with Solutions’ which provides training, support and advice to young people aged 18 to 31 from different parts of the world who want to develop ideas in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The CISE also promotes Workshops on Entrepreneurship for researchers from all fields of knowledge, providing them with tools to promote the transfer of their theses to the market, and supports the growth of startups and SMEs with the Mentoring CISE Network, which connects them with mentors with a wide experience.
With the goal of contributing to economic and social progress, the Center works in a network with multiple local, national, and international institutions, developing initiatives with global impact that promote the talent and capabilities of individuals and groups.
Sacyr has been working with startups on a regular basis, although without a formal program. During all this time, the company has had relationships with more than 100 startups with potential to apply their solutions to their business processes. That is why in 2018 it launched Sacyr iChallenges a program that offers a world of collaboration opportunities for agents of the innovative ecosystem, with an approach based on flexibility and the capacity to adapt to the proposals of the different innovative agents.
The outcome of challenges is usually associated with the creation of value and, in this sense, Sacyr is very open to exploring different schemes of monetization and collaboration together with other agents, with a win-win approach. The company offers ad hoc monetization schemes for each case of collaboration, ranging from the creation of joint ventures for joint marketing or the customer-supplier contractual relationship to co-investment, direct investment and other alternatives.
iChallenges is an open innovation program, key to Sacyr’s strategy for digital transformation and collaboration with the innovative ecosystem. Collaborations with entrepreneurs are always focused on solving specific business challenges. In addition, the multinational focuses its open innovation towards the resolution of specific challenges, seeking solutions together with other agents of the innovative ecosystem. The program is aimed at achieving, increasingly, a high quality of life for citizens, based on better infrastructure and better urban services.
In addition to the iChallenges program, Sacyr annually organizes the Sacyr Startups Innovation Awards, which recognize the best proposals developed by the innovative community for the urban infrastructure and services sector. These awards reach their ninth edition in 2019 and have identified some of the most innovative and disruptive startups on the market. This prize is awarded with a contribution of 50,000 Euro.
Sacyr offers innovative agents a wide variety of benefits, such as collaborating in the resolution of challenges with one of the main Spanish corporations in the infrastructure sector and with a presence in more than 20 countries or working with experts in the sector and with senior management. In addition, startups will have access to Sacyr’s sales and contact network, will be able to establish strategic relationships with the company, will have validation of the business model, as well as its acceleration, escalation and growth.
