Towards a Sustainable Future: Start Cup Ecosister Awards Two Projects of the University of Bologna

 G Carbons envisions using agro-industrial waste to create a material that purifies wastewater and acts as a sustainable fertilizer. Magnetic Future develops cutting-edge systems to power superconducting magnets, reducing costs for end users.

The two University of Bologna projects won first and second place respectively (awarded €10,000 and €6,000) at the final of Start Cup Ecosister 2024, a competition aimed at promoting the most innovative ideas for the ecological transition in the Emilia-Romagna Region. The initiative, organised by ART-ER and the Region, took place during the Start Cup Ecosister Day – Emilia-Romagna Towards a Sustainable Future, held on 24 October at the CNR in Bologna.

The startup 2G Carbons involves several researchers from the Department of Physics and Astronomy "Augusto Righi," while Magnetic Future includes researchers from the Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi".

 

That’s not all: the G Carbons team also received the International Mindset special award from Ecosister, which includes an entrepreneurship program abroad, as well as the Green & Blue special award from La Repubblica.

A special mention for female entrepreneurship went to TukEasy, another project led by an Alma Mater team, for devising an urban freight transport service that combines simplicity, reliability, and sustainability.

The University of Bologna projects—among which is Daidalos, focused on developing advanced design solutions for electronic chips—have also secured access to the PNI - National Innovation Award, Italy’s most prestigious recognition for research-based business projects, scheduled to take place at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome on 5–6 December.

During the event, over 100 B2B meetings were held between competition finalists, startups, spinoffs from the Ecosister acceleration programme, entrepreneurs and investors.

The challenge was once again organised in collaboration with universities, research centres, and local partners. For the second consecutive year, it was held in partnership with Ecosister, a project funded by the NRRP to support the Region's ecological transition.The goal is to foster the creation of new sustainable and highly innovative enterprises.

The twelve competing projects were evaluated by a technical jury composed of investors, entrepreneurs, and innovation experts.