Betting strongly in the Open Innovation model, Enel invests in the development of businesses and in the creation of a start-up ecosystem in several areas of interest. Based on the Open Power philosophy globally adopted by the company, three years ago we created the Energy Start programme, which aims to boost innovative proposals that can improve our services and create value for our customers and for the wider society.
“The winning start-ups can receive investment of up to R$1.5m, take part in an immersion in Enel’s innovation hub in California and have the opportunity to display their business on an international scale.”
More than 700 start-ups enrolled in the programme’s last open call, launched in August 2017. The selection process included several stages. Projects were evaluated by professionals from Enel Brasil’s lines of business. We are now at the final stage, which consists of submitting the proposals to the company’s executive committee, which will assess and prioritise the investments.
“The open call was a success, because the volume of submissions was much higher than we had anticipated and with mature companies and proposals. That is why we managed to overcome our initial expectation and will invest more than the declared R$1.5m in some firms.” ”
In addition to the Investment finalists, Enel is also negotiating commercial partnerships with another 13 companies that enrolled in the programme. The partnerships can be national and international, as Enel’s global lines of business are also participating in the selection process and will choose two companies among the finalists to undertake an immersion course in California.
All the start-ups that took part in the open call will remain in our database and can be activated by future needs of our lines of business or Enel Group partner companies.