For the seventh consecutive year, the prestigious magazine Forbes Italia has selected a group of young entrepreneurs in its annual list of the country's most promising Under 30s, and once again the main protagonists of the Italian innovation scene include many names familiar to the Incubator of Politecnico di Torino, founders or co-founders of innovative start-ups supported by I3P.
As was the case in 2021, in 2022 and in 2023, the national community outlined by Forbes includes many startuppers at home in I3P, representing 10 young innovative enterprises - 10% of the 'subjects' chosen in total by Forbes Italia - that are following a path of growth in the Campus of Politecnico di Torino.
"From healthcare to sports, from fashion to technology via finance and music, these young talents are changing our country with their ideas," writes Forbes Italia's editorial staff in their online article presenting part of the list, "and revolutionising the way we live, work, have fun and eat."
Among the names included in the list, five of the selected entrepreneurs are supported by ESA BIC Turin: the founders of incubated start-ups Focoos AI and Novac.
Focoos AI
Among the most promising innovators under 30 in the Technology category is Fabio Cermelli, 29 years old, Founder and CTO of Focoos AI. Those who follow the Italian start-up ecosystem will have already heard of it: Focoos AI is in fact the young company that in December last year was elected overall winner of the Premio Nazionale per l'Innovazione (PNI) 2023, after having been recognised a month earlier as one of the best candidate projects at the regional competition Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta.
Founded in 2022 and incubated in I3P as part of the ESA BIC Turin program, Focoos AI has developed cutting-edge software for the aerospace industry that automates the process of creating and training artificial neural networks optimised for any low-power devices, such as satellites or drones. The start-up's algorithm automatically designs and trains customised neural networks, eliminating the need for expensive hardware, reducing labour-intensive tasks and minimising human error. The technology significantly reduces energy consumption, improves operational efficiency and enables the use of AI and real-time data processing directly on the devices themselves.
Novac
To create new-generation supercapacitors to be coupled with traditional batteries to increase the performance and efficiency of both electric cars and space launchers. This is the mission of Novac, an innovative start-up from Modena founded in 2020, incubated in I3P since 2023 as part of ESA BIC Turin and selected today by Forbes Italia in the Manufacturing & Industry category. Four members of its team - co-founders Matteo Bertocchi (29 years old), Alessandro Fabbri (28), Aldo Girimonte (29) and Loris Bruzzi (29) - have been chosen to join the Forbes Under 30 2024 by virtue of the technological value of their project and the possible positive impact on the mobility and space sectors.
The technology developed by Novac intends to revolutionise the supercapacitor market with two main features: solid state and mouldability. The project's vision is to create a supercapacitor that can be affordable for any application, in order to achieve a widespread presence of the product on the market within five years. The start-up, which has already flown to the United States with the Space IT Up programme of the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), ended last year with several awards: 1st place at the Premio Cambiamenti 2023, 2nd place at the Grand Prix Innovation 2023, and a special mention at Bravo Innovation Hub's Demo Day.
