Joule's activities in support of African innovative startups continue.
On 12 June, Eni's school of entrepreneurship hosted a stage of the Italian roadshow for East African startup winners of the "Next Generation Africa" programme, at the Polihub headquarters in Milan. The initiative was organised by the BeEntrepreneurs association and the Italian embassies in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, with the support of various public and private partners.
During the event, the five startups presented their innovative solutions in the fields of circular economy, energy storage, health and agritech to mentors and industry experts.
Domenica Surace, Head of Impact Assessment, Monitoring & Reporting at Joule, explained: "For Joule, it is vital to support the growth of local startups in Africa, both to foster local development and to identify innovative solutions that can be integrated into the value chain of Eni's agrihubs."
During the day, the startups were accompanied by representatives from Joule and Polihub to visit LaST, the crash test laboratory of the Politecnico di Milano. The day before, on 11 June, they were hosted at the Cariplo Factory headquarters for "Startup Africa Day", an event organised to give the winning startups the opportunity to meet innovators from both the Italian and East African ecosystems. This was followed by a panel discussion with key figures involved in cooperation and innovation across the African continent.
"I'd like to reiterate Joule's commitment," said Luca Dal Forno, Head of Origination & Intrapreneurship at Joule, "to contribute to creating value for local companies through open innovation initiatives."