The fifth edition of the impact innovation programme developed by Collège des Ingénieurs (CDI), Politecnico di Torino and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has started today. 53 young people will work on the sustainable development challenges launched by Enel Foundation, Autostrade per l'Italia, CNH Industrial, DSM, Iren, Scuola italiana di Ospitalità, Regione Puglia and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI).
The Collège des Ingénieurs Italia in collaboration with the Politecnico di Torino and Idea square (the CERN centre dedicated to experimental innovation) kicked off the fifth edition of the Innovation for Change program: an impact innovation program dedicated to young talents attending the MBA at Collège des Ingénieurs Italia and the Doctoral School of Politecnico di Torino who want to shape the society and the world for a sustainable development.
Innovation for Change has become one of the major Italian innovation projects based on the collaboration with companies, institutions and non-profit organizations. Every year, Innovation for Change encourages the participants to develop innovative and scalable business ideas and practical solutions to respond to the most important challenges related to social, economic and environmental problems of today.
The partners of the fifth edition of Innovation for Change program are Enel Foundation (long-time partner of the project), Autostrade per l'Italia, CNH Industrial, DSM, the Apulia Region, Iren, the Scuola italiana di Ospitalità and UNICRI. By joining the project, the partners would like to actively promote their commitment to have a positive impact on the social and environmental systems in which they operate.
The challenges on which the 53 participants will work focus on food supply chain sustainability, circular economy, fake news and occupational health and safety. This year, some students from the Scuola Holden will also participate in Innovation for Change, helping fellows and PhD students in the communication of projects.
The teams will present their solutions in front of a jury of investors and experts from the technological and industrial sectors on June 23rd, during the Italian Tech Week festival in Turin.
Success Stories
SoundBubble
During the second edition of Innovation for Change, ENEL Foundation launched a challenge about health on work environments, from which SoundBubble was born. SoundBubble is a smart headphone which allows the user to pick the sounds they want to hear. The objective is to provide safety and increase productivity in the workplace.
In 2018, SoundBubble gathered €50k to develop the proof of concept, and last year it signed a contract for product development with ENEL Green Power and, so, was able to test its solution in real field. The first application of SoundBubble is in factories, where it can protect workers from excessive noise while allowing alarms and voices to be heard thanks to a personalized set-up.
SPECTRUMLab
SPECTRUMLab was born from the challenge Generate value from waste launched by Ferrovie dello Stato in the last edition of Innovation for Change. SpectrumLab is a thermochromic reflective paint that changes its color based on air temperature. The paint is developed to be applied to building roof surfaces to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. This project aims to be a solution to the urban heat island.
After participating in the Global Grad Show 2019, SPECTRUMLab has been selected for an acceleration program that will take place in Dubai starting from March 2020.
For more information:
IdeaSquare/CERN
IdeaSquare is a specialised centre for experimental innovation at CERN that hosts research and development projects on detection technologies and collaborates with high level interdisciplinary education programmes. Located near the Globe of Science and Innovation in Geneva, it offers ad hoc meeting spaces and facilities for rapid prototyping in innovation-related projects. The purpose of IdeaSquare is to bring people together to bring new ideas, projects and prototypes to life, with the final aim of contributing to the activities of CERN's Technology Transfer Group through innovative products and solutions of global significance.
Phone: +41 22 767 2623 , e-mail: kt@cern.ch
Collège des Ingénieurs Italia (CDI Italia)
The Collège des Ingénieurs Italia is an independent institution of excellence for post-graduate managerial training of young graduates in science. It is part of the European network of the Collège des Ingénieurs (CDI) and was founded by Fondazione Agnelli, Fondazione Edoardo Garrone and Fondazione Pirelli in 2009. CDI Italia is based at Talent Garden Fondazione Agnelli in via Giacosa 38, Turin.
Phone: +39 335 122 1688, e-mail: silvia.petocchi@it.cdi.eu
Politecnico di Torino
Politecnico di Torino was founded in 1906 and has its roots in the Technical School for Engineers created in 1859.
It is internationally ranked among the most important universities in Europe for engineering and architecture studies, with 35,700 students (out of which 15% are international students coming from over 100 different countries).
Politecnico is a center of excellence for education and research in engineering, architecture, design and planning and it works in close cooperation with the socio-economic system. It is a comprehensive Research University where education and research complement each other and create synergies in order to address the needs of the economic system, of the local community and, above all, of its students.
Politecnico is committed to a strong internationalization process of its teaching, research and technology transfer activities: not only does it work in cooperation with the best universities and research centers in world, but it has also been signing agreements and contracts with important international corporations, as well as local businesses, meaning to be for the latter a focal point for innovation.
Phone: +39 011 0906286, email: relazioni.media@polito.it
Enel Foundation
Enel Foundation is non-profit organisation focusing on the crucial role of clean energy to ensure a sustainable future for all. By developing partnerships with pre-eminent experts and institution across the globe, leveraging on the vast knowledge of its founders, Enel Foundation conducts research to explore the implications of global challenges in the energy domain and offers education programs to the benefit of talents in the scientific, business and institutional realms.
email:info@enelfoundation.org
Scuola Holden
Scuola Holden was founded in 1994 by five friends, all in their thirties. The idea was to create a school for storytellers. The school was named Holden because the idea was to create a school Holden Caulfield would never have been expelled from. In other words, a place for out of the ordinary people. To this day, the school has had a very singular way to “raise” students. The methods, principles and rules that are used at Scuola Holden are quite difficult to find in other schools. At the moment there are between 300 and 340 students, depending on the year, and they all look quite happy. “How to make the most beautiful school in the world” is what is said while walking about the school by those who’re summarizing their objectives. In some (actually rare) lucid moments, the sentence is rephrased to a softer version: “how to make the school we all dreamt of when we were at school”. And everybody believes that that is definitely an achievable goal.
Phone +39 333 479 9195, e-mail: francesca.tablino@scuolaholden.it