“Cities are transforming and over the past 12 months Covid has accelerated change. We no longer all move together, at the same times, to go to the office. The way of doing thick work has changed, now we have the supermarket in our smartphone – explains Martin Olczyk, Managing Director at Techstars in Italy -. Cities must give an adequate response to this ongoing change. That’s why smart mobility is a strategic sector “
In 2020 Techstars, an international acceleration program, created in partnership with the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, the CRT Foundation and the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, chose Turin to give life to its Smart Mobility Accelerator. The three-year program, based at the Officine Grandi Riparazioni, halfway across the ford, found itself dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and so had to develop an entirely online program. «The human aspect was missing, no pizza together, no recreational opportunities, in this the screen doesn’t help. And above all, those spontaneous moments of encounter that arise when you work side by side – tells us Martin Olczyk – have been lacking. On the other hand, it was easier for startuppers with families, who didn’t have to stay away from home. We were also able to organize meetings with mentors and investors from every corner of the world, even those who could not physically come to Turin ».
Just like cities, acceleration programs or startup incubators are destined to transform. In all likelihood, the future will be hybrid: “First weeks in presence to get to know each other better, the central phase of work and development of projects can be done remotely, in this way you can target a much wider audience of experts – try to imagine Martin Olczyk -. And the final phase, which has a strong emotional component in the presence again, to cry and laugh together ».
Meanwhile, the second Demo Day of the Techstars Smart Mobility Accelerator took place completely online, although ideally with the head in Turin. «Mobility is deeply rooted in the industrial identity of the city, and that experience is firmly turned towards the future, with the involvement of entrepreneurs from all over Piedmont. Turin’s rapidly evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem is accelerating and consolidating cutting-edge mobility and smart city solutions ”, Martin Olczyk made his debut on the virtual stage. “In 2018 we launched the Torino City Lab Project, an initiative to position our city as a laboratory for urban experimentation – echoed Chiara Appendino, mayor of Turin -. We tackled the transition from an automotive manufacturing city to a smart mobility city, considering the challenges of road, air and space mobility. For example, Turin was the first city in Italy to pre-authorize an urban circuit of 35 kilometers to test connected and autonomous vehicles, called Torino Smart Road ».
The twelve protagonists
The marriage between the city and the accelerator seems perfect: the 12 projects, selected among hundreds from 54 different countries, approach the theme of 360-degree mobility.
The management of deliveries and delivery are the core business of Blink, which aims to ensure fast, efficient and sustainable deliveries, e Deliverart, which offers a single interface for all delivery systems. Trailze aims to optimize delivery experiences thanks to navigation based on machine learning.
They focus on analyzing Israeli air quality Crispify, which offers monitoring systems for car sharing and rental services, and the Italian Wiseair, a community for the detailed mapping of the air quality of cities, through a completely autonomous IoT sensor. It manages to transform the satellite images useless information about our planet, through the use of Artificial Intelligence, The width 40.
They aim to make freight transport more efficient Cargofive, which deals with container management, ed was, which allows to digitize paper-based documentation for the freight transport industry, using blockchain technology. Kedeon allows you to monitor the quality of logistics through an IoT device, e Prognostic helps manage assets in real time through an edge-based artificial intelligence platform.
Duet facilitates the management of corporate fleets, offering a Mobility as-a-Service service, while Imperium Drive aims to optimize the availability and accessibility of fleets, through the use of remote driving technology.
“In the coming months we will continue to work side by side with the twelve startups, we will try to help them find investors, through a series of events, in Berlin, the United States and Singapore – says Martin Olczyk -. Then we will have to ask ourselves about Techstars’ next steps, evaluate what we need to improve and build on what we have learned over the years in Turin ».