Abstract

The ability to drive change and find opportunities in a constantly evolving scenario is essential when it comes to generating effective innovation.

Artificial intelligence has already unlocked many opportunities in our industry and it has already been adopted in our processes and business units. For these reasons, we are now looking for your contribution and talent to start a new journey together with Enel, a global leader in the energy sector. The aim is to develop new AI-based solutions for some of our real business challenges.

Enel Innothon 2025 is an innovative competition which focuses on six challenges that closely concern Enel. Participants are invited to devise a solution for at least one of them. The common theme is Artificial Intelligence.

The open challenges presented in this call span the entire Enel organization. This initiative will address the full electricity value chain - from energy generation to the management and optimization of distribution grids - as well as the delivery of new value-added products and services to our customers and end-users.

Get ready for an exciting innovation experience centered on collaboration and engagement with AI!​

This is your chance to challenge yourself with one of today’s most cutting-edge technologies, expand your network, and accelerate your growth:

1. Select one or more of the Open Challenges you wish to apply for.
2. Complete and submit the solution form, and attach the required documents (your CV is mandatory).
3. A panel of technical experts will assess your proposal.
4. The panel may contact you if any clarification is required.
5. If your solution is selected, Enel will contact you in order to discuss the next steps.

Description

Enel is a global leader in the energy sector, covering everything from electricity generation to distribution and retail.

The Enel Innothon 2025 is a contest for the remote development of AI-based applications, designed on specific challenges aimed at fostering innovative solutions that Enel’s business operations can accelerate and scale globally.

This challenge is a unique opportunity for students at – and recent graduates from - Italian universities to showcase their talents to Enel. 

 

BACKGROUND

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field dedicated to creating systems that can handle tasks traditionally performed by humans, such as speech recognition, natural language understanding, writing, critical data analysis and complex problem solving. In recent years, AI has experienced significant growth, evolving from simple algorithms to advanced machine learning and generative AI models that continuously learn from data and improve over time.

Digital transformation is a core pillar for Enel, which is driven by tech innovation and sustainability. As a result, AI has become a key component of Enel’s strategy, helping to boost efficiency, optimize energy resource management, and develop new, more sustainable solutions.

In this context, Enel is launching the Enel Innothon 2025.

Do you want to know more?

Below, you’ll find the links to the six specific challenges, each detailing:

• A general overview of the context and of Enel’s needs
• The mandatory and optional requirements for the solutions, which define the KPIs Enel will use for assessment
• The deliverables you are expected to submit

 

OPEN CHALLENGES AND USE CASES

#1 | AI-based Virtual Market Analyst: Building a Smart Economic Scenario Generator
An innovative Virtual Market Analyst to support our business with market analysis, forecasting, and scenario planning.

#2 | Time Series Application for Energy Recovery
New approaches to dynamic energy fraud detection through multi-source temporal pattern analysis.

#3 | Synthetic Data Generation for Improving Image Classification Accuracy
An innovative solution that leverages on synthetic data generation in order to enhance plant species recognition from drone images.

#4 | NextGen Satellite Super-Resolution: Advancing the Boundaries of Image Enhancement
Novel algorithms that significantly enhance the resolution of freely available satellite images.

#5 | AI for Forecasting Commodity Futures
Data-driven analytics that combine market fundamentals and historical trends in order to predict commodity prices and optimize trading strategies.

#6 | AI-Powered Energy Optimization for Business Success
An AI-powered solution that delivers personalized energy-saving recommendations in order to optimize business energy consumption.

Challenge rules

Before submitting a solution, all participants should carefully read the challenge and its Regulations, which can be found in the Attachments section.

BY SUBMITTING A SOLUTION, YOU AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPT THE ATTACHED REGULATIONS, IN ADDITION TO THE TERMS OF USE OF THIS PLATFORM.

Clearly explain your proposal in English and attach documents (max. 5 files, 35MB total size, ZIP, JPG, PDF format), if needed. You can also provide a link so that the assessment team can access and view the demo (please check the validity period of the link).

 

Eligibility

Only students at – and recent graduates from – Italian universities are eligible for participation in this Challenge.

Individual members and teams consisting of up to 3 eligible contributors are allowed to participate.

The Team Leader is responsible for submitting the application, providing the list of team members (name, surname and email address), and uploading their own resume, as well as those of all the other team members, on the Open Innovability® platform, together with the solution.

 

Challenge type, reward, IP rights, deadlines

The best proposals will be selected to take part in a remote event in order to have the opportunity to win an internship at Enel and an economic award.

This is a Call for prototypes that requires written documentation, experimental proof-of-concept data, and prototype delivery for the purposes of evaluating how effective the solution is.

All intellectual property rights, if any, in the proposed solution shall remain with the participants. By submitting a proposed solution to this Challenge, the winners agree to grant Enel S.p.A. a perpetual, royalty-free, exclusive, sub-licensable license for the winning solution and all relevant intellectual property rights, if any, for the purposes of using, further developing and/or commercially exploiting the winning solution.

 

Deadline

Submissions to this Challenge must be delivered by June 16, 2025.

Late submissions will not be considered.

Specific regulations can be found in the attachment at the bottom of this page.

What happens next?

After the Challenge deadline, the Challenge Owner will complete the review process and decide with regards to the Winning Solution(s). 

All participants that submit a proposal will be notified concerning the status of their submissions.

However, no detailed evaluation of individual submissions will be provided.

The Challenge Owner will evaluate the proposal considering the Solution’s required features and characteristics, focusing on the following criteria:

• The overall scientific and technical feasibility of the proposed solution
• The completeness of the proposal’s description
• Examples/use cases to support the potential capability of the solution
• Innovativeness and creativity
• The capabilities and related experience of the participants
• The realism of the proposed solution
• The maturity level of the proposal

You will receive feedback at the end of the assessment phase.

In the event of success, an Enel contact person will get in touch with you in order to discuss the next steps.

The final reward for this Challenge is contingent upon the full completion of the pre-awarding process, including acceptance of the Challenge Regulations.

The pre-awarding process entails obtaining some documents from the participants. i.e. the signed Challenge Regulations and the Counterparty Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ).

 

CHALLENGE OWNER IDENTIKIT

Enel is a global leader in energy generation, distribution, and sales, operating in 28 countries throughout the world. The Group offers a wide range of energy solutions, and it has an installed capacity of over 87 GW, including 66 GW from renewable sources.