VeniSIA’s Acceleration Program – Italy

Deadline: 31-Jul-21

The Venice Sustainability Innovation Accelerator has announced the applications for Acceleration Program to support companies to identify, through an international call to action, and engage the most qualified researchers/start-uppers to carry out the sustainability innovation projects.

VeniSIA is a sustainability innovation accelerator, to be based in Venice and devoted to the development of business ideas and technology solutions able to face climate change and other environmental challenges.

VeniSIA attracts institutions, companies and individuals who share the belief that it is the perfect background to provide ideas and solutions for those sustainable development challenges that are applicable to Venice fragile and unique environmental ecosystem, and yet scalable, to the benefit of the whole planet. VeniSIA’s ultimate purpose is not to make an accelerator in Venice but to make an accelerator out of Venice.

Areas of Focus

VeniSIA will focus on a series of SDGs and develop a range of ideas and solutions that will be tested in Venice, prove to achieve positive results and finally lead to a start-up. The 5 sdgs on which VeniSIA operates.

Affordable and clean energy:
- Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
- Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency
Sustainable cities and communities:
- Affordable and sustainable transport systems
- Protection of cultural and natural heritage
- Reduction of the effects of natural disasters
- Reduction of the environmental impact of cities
Responsible consumption and production:
- Achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
- Reduction of food waste
- Achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle
- Reduction of waste generation
Climate action:
- Strengthening of resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change
Life below water
- Protection of marine and coastal ecosystems
- Sustainable fishing

Benefits

Companies will benefit from VeniSIA because they will get:

a certain increase of their brand awareness, proving sustainability and innovation leaders to meet the SDGs with the aim to save Venice;
a probable solution of their main sustainable development challenges, leveraging VeniSIA community of innovators and Ca’ Foscari University physical and intellectual assets;
a possible commercialization of the solutions if they can prove to be able to cope with global challenges, promoting them to international investors and venture capitalists (VCs).

What kind of company could join VeniSIA?

Venice as a city lab will host new corporate labs funded by companies which can be:

international companies supporting a broad sustainability action on climate change and clean energy;
international or national corporations providing a sustainability innovation solution for sustainable cities, underwater life and clean energy;
national SMEs hunting a sustainability innovation project to re-startup the company through the activation of a corporate lab in Venice and coherently with sustainable production and clean energy.

Eligibility Criteria