Get out of the building, make ideas happen! StartCup Campania has awarded the best innovative ideas: Teoresi in the committee that has elected the winning startup

On October 24, 2022, the final stage of Start Cup Campania, the Innovation Award promoted and sponsored by all the universities in Campania, was held on Procida island, pitting entrepreneurial projects from numerous Campania startups against each other, resulting from research and drive for innovation.

Francesco de Nola, Teoresi Group Innovation Leader, has been selected as one of the members of the committee that has elected the winners of the 2022 edition, conducted by Professor Pierluigi Rippa, professor of economic-management engineering at Università degli Studi Federico II.

We asked Francesco for some insights.

We are talking about an authentic competition of innovative ideas and business plans, which is its goal?

The main objective of this initiative is supporting technological research and the innovation culture within the university context, thus fostering the creation of new knowledge-based entrepreneurship made up of innovation and technology companies, such as Teoresi, that are becoming a real economic engine in recent years.
Moreover, the competition has a national scope: participants from all the regional editions undertook a one-year incubation path, at the end of which 20 startups were selected, and 10 of those made it to the finals. After this phase, the finalists from each regional edition access the National Innovation Award, which this year will be held in early December in L’Aquila.

What were the topics covered in the finalist projects?

The top five ranked startups presented projects in the healthcare field: innovative solutions related to diagnostics of some particularly invasive types of cancer, retinopathy, and tattoo removal, but also projects connected to wellness and mental health were presented.
Other competing projects covered Industry 4.0 and virtual reality, the use of artificial intelligence in linguistics, smart buildings solutions, traffic management, and data analytics using machine learning.
This confirms that innovation can be applied in very different contexts and when it makes people life more comfortable and better, when it is also sustainable, it’s a victory.

What did you evaluate to determine the winning startup?

There are several evaluation criteria: the business model, the customer validation process, execution and strategy implementation, the innovation level and the teamwork.

Why was it important for Teoresi to contribute to this initiative?

Today we speak about open innovation, the one no longer made within the company, but which taks on and creates value when it is connected to an external network composed of Universities, Research Centers, Startups and competitors, which contribute to the development and the implementation of new technologies and business opportunities. It is therefore important for Teoresi to be part of this innovative circle and contribute to the technological progress, guided by the goal that identifies and moves daily choices of our company: generating opportunities – of collaboration, innovation, and approach – to improve everyone’s life.

On this occasion, we also wanted to ask Professor Rippa a question.

What made you choose Teoresi as a member of the competition committee?

I have always been very active on open innovation issues, and I believe that in the innovation process, all the players involved must act in synergy to produce a positive impact on the environment, economic development, and society. In Teoresi I have found the commitment and willingness to act in these terms, which, combined with strong expertise in technology, is the ideal combination for the sustainable innovation context.