Abstract
The Call aims to select, reward and accelerate business projects focused on developing innovative technologies, solutions and services with a low environmental and social impact in 5 Key Focus Areas of the Circular Economy: Circular Bioeconomy; Circular Water Economy; Circular Energy Economy; New Circular Life Cycles; Circular City & Land. The initiative supports the national and EU post-Covid recovery policies promoting the transition process towards a more environmentally and socially sustainable economy.
For any further info about the call, please write to circular4recovery@marzottoventure.com
Description
SCENARIO
The linear economic paradigm “take-make-dispose” is based on the unfounded assumption of unlimited availability of resources. The initiatives that aim to support efficiency can delay the crisis of this economic model but are not enough to fix issues related to the lack of resources and environmental, economic and social impacts due to the reckless exploitation of natural resources.
The necessary transition towards to a new circular economic paradigm, based on cycles closure, waste elimination and the exclusive use of renewable energy sources, renewable raw materials and secondary raw materials, places us before unprecedented technological and social challenges, involving significant changes related to production processes and the radical rethinking of consumption and business models.
Europe is at the forefront of this global transition towards a circular and low-carbon economy, which is considered a key element of the new EU industrial strategy, to make European production system more sustainable and competitive, and generate new jobs. In this direction, last March the European Commission adopted a new Action Plan for the Circular Economy, which represent one of the key blocks of the European Green Deal, the agenda for sustainable growth that redesigns EU commitment on climate and environment for the next thirty years.
This long-term strategic trend has met, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the extraordinary recovery measures adopted through the EU's long-term budget and the Next Generation EU initiative, which represent for Italy and Europe an unrepeatable opportunity to relaunch investments and implement important reforms, within the wider framework of the transition process towards a more environmentally and socially sustainable economy.
CHALLENGES
The Call for Projects aims to select, reward and support business projects focused on developing innovative technologies, solutions and services with a low environmental and social impact in the following Key Focus Areas of the Circular Economy:
- Circular Bioeconomy - Enhancement of agro-food waste and new models of sustainable and regenerative agriculture;
- Circular Water Economy - Treatment and valorisation of wastewater and smart water and wastewater management systems;
- Circular Energy Economy - Energy transition, smart energy management systems, and sustainable and circular materials management models in the energy supply chain;
- New Circular Life Cycles - Circular and sustainable solutions, technologies and processes in the plastics and WEEE supply chains management;
- Circular City & Land -New integrated and circular approaches and models for the sustainable development of cities and rural/inland areas.
For each Key Focus Areas, the Call proposes several broad Challenges and a number of more delimited Challenges, identified in relation to the specific interests and innovation needs of the Corporate Partners supporting the initiative.
The minimum level of TRL required for the eligibility of projects is 4.
PROJECT DELIVERABLES
Each proposer must fill the appropriate Registration Form, available on the Marzotto Venture Accelerator website, accessible at the bottom of this page clicking on button “Create your solution” which will redirect you to the Call website.
In the section "Description of the Project", the following main points can be illustrated:
- Company Idea
- Key People
- Business Strategy
- Technology
- Market & Positioning
- Key Financials
- Technology Roadmap & Business Upside.
It will be also compulsory to attach a pitch that develops the different points listed for the section "Description of the Project".
It is the proposer’s faculty to attach:
- a Business Plan
- any additional documentation considered useful to draw and strengthen the proposal (for example, patents, technical annexes describing the technology and its intellectual property).
Explain your proposal clearly in Italian or English.
The Challenges proposed for the 5 KEY FOCUS AREAS intercept many targets and related sub-targets of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations for the Agenda 2030:
- SDG 2: Zero Hunger
- SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
- SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- SDG 13: Climate Action
Challenge rules
HOW TO PARTICIPATE AND CALL FOR IDEAS ORGANIZATION
You can read the Regulation and apply and at the page dedicate to this call on Marzotto Ventures Accelerator website.
BY SIGNING UP TO OPENINNOVABILITY.COM AND THEN CLICKING ON THE BUTTON “CREATE YOUR SOLUTION” YOU’LL BE REDIRECTED TO THE CALL PAGE.
ELIGIBILITY
The following subjects can apply:
- Teams not yet established in companies;
- Spin-off research;
- Innovative start-ups;
- Innovative SMEs;
- Other types of companies, potentially susceptible to spin-offs.
AWARD
- Credits for each selected Project - up to a maximum of Euro 95,000 - to be used for technological and entrepreneurial empowerment services;
- Equity, quasi-equity, forms of guarantee and co-guarantee on medium-long-term debts, to be used in co-investment with third-party resources;
- Dedicated physical spaces in in the Phygiwork S.p.A. Business Centers in Rome.
The actual composition of the portfolio of services provided in the Pre-Acceleration and Acceleration Program will be established on the specific needs of each of the winning Projects, as identified by the Acceleration Team, also in agreement with the Corporate Partners concerned.
DEADLINES
The proposals will be admitted until February 28, 2021.
Late submissions will not be considered.
All proposers are invited to read carefully the challenges and the Regulation of this Call, present on the marzottoventure.com website and also accessible at the bottom of this page (“Regulation Circular 4 Recovery”), which will redirect you to the Call website.
By submitting a project, through the specific form available at the Marzotto Venture Accelerator website, all the participants automatically accept the aforementioned Regulation.
What happens next?
The MVA Acceleration Team will verify the eligibility of the submitted projects, excluding those ineligible, carry out an in-depth analysis of the market potential, and proceed to a pre-selection.
Next, the pre-selected projects will be examined by the MVA Acceleration Team, integrated into its composition by executives of MVA and UCBM, advisors and experts. The Corporate Partners will also be involved in this phase, to acquire their assessment and eventual expressions of interest on the projects under evaluation.
The following criteria will be taken into account for the assessment:
- consistency with the Call goals;
- quality and skills of the business team;
- innovation degree;
- technical and economic feasibility.
Downstream of the evaluation procedure, 20 winning projects, distributed among the 5 Key Focus Areas identified by the Call, will be selected and participate in a Pre-Acceleration Program, with a maximum duration of 12 weeks. The access to the Pre-acceleration Program will be subject to signing the contractual documentation proposed by MVA and registering the constituent or established company in the special section of the Register of “Innovative Start-ups” or that of “Innovative SMEs”, in accordance to the Italian legislation.
At the end of the Pre-Acceleration Program, up to 10 projects will be selected and will enter the next phase of the Acceleration Program, lasting between 12 and 24 weeks, accessing the services made available by the Organizers and the Corporate Partners concerned, and any participatory investment. This possible subsequent acceleration phase shall be governed by a separate agreement on the further activities of the Acceleration Program, the terms and conditions of which shall be negotiated in good faith between the Parties.
At the end of the assessment, you will receive feedback.
In case of success, a contact person will get in touch with you to discuss the next steps.
ABOUT THE SEEKER
Marzotto Venture Accelerator carries out incubation/acceleration and venture capital activities, aimed at supporting entrepreneurial initiatives with a high content of technological innovation. It collaborates with excellent partners, making available to the incubated and/or accelerated companies its industrial and commercial network and the potential synergies with the businesses of one of the largest and oldest families of Italian entrepreneurs, committed for a long time to the environmental and social sustainability. It operates as an innovation and technology transfer agency, promoting a vast ecosystem of open innovation focused on the thematic areas "Circular Economy", "Smart Cities & Communities" and "Healthcare 4.0".
Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma promotes integrated teaching and research facilities, pursuing the mission of placing science at the service of mankind and ethical and sustainable development. It offers the student an educational experience aimed at its cultural, professional and human growth, proposing the acquisition of skills in a spirit of service. As part of its Third Mission activities, it promotes the enhancement of scientific research results, technology transfer and innovation, supporting the business technological validation and development. It promotes knowledge, the interdisciplinary nature of the sciences and research in all areas that contribute to the global good of the person.