Start Cup Bergamo 2018 was won by “Fire Bird Brigade”, a system to combat forest fires using remotely controlled aircraft, and Fondazione Pesenti awarded “A Photocatalytic Foam” by Cristian Prometti as the project with the highest social impact.
Bergamo, October 16, 2018 – As part of the 16th edition of BergamoScienza, today the final event of Start Cup Bergamo 2018 was held in the Aula Magna of the University of Bergamo, Campus Sant’Agostino. This is the 9th edition of the entrepreneurial training and support initiative by the University of Bergamo.
This year, Fondazione Pesenti supports Start Cup Bergamo, strengthening its collaboration with the University of Bergamo. The foundation aims to support the best proposals, highlighting their “impact investing” nature — projects capable of positively influencing social dynamics in the territory, especially those originating from Bergamo 2.035, an initiative co-developed for several years with the University of Bergamo and Harvard University – Graduate School of Design.
The Jury awarded the winning projects of the 2018 final, granting €10,000 to first place, €5,000 to second place, and €2,500 to third place.
First place: Fire Bird Brigade by Leonardo Viganò. An innovative system to fight forest fires using remotely controlled aircraft designed to operate in high-risk scenarios.
Second place: Photocatalytic Foam by Cristian Prometti. A project proposing an innovative solution for decontaminating aqueous waste from micropollutants.
Third place: Esterga by Luciano Fedeli. A web portal that facilitates and standardizes professional relationships in the gastronomy sector.
The awards were presented by Sergio Cavalieri, Lucio Cassia, and Tommaso Minola for UniBG, Vittorio Carrara for UBI (first prize); Enrico Ginevra for UniBG and Roberto Dubbini for the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Confindustria Bergamo (second prize); Elena Cefis for UniBG, Cristiano Arrigoni, and Paolo Carminati for Bergamo Sviluppo (third prize).
Special contributions (€2,500 each) were also awarded to projects selected from the 13 ideas in competition that best aligned with the three thematic areas of Start Cup Bergamo 2018: advanced manufacturing, health and personal care, and creative and cultural industries.
Special contribution for health and personal care: HC.Lab to White and Seeds by Alessandro Ghizzardi, an innovative healthy food brand offering tasty and healthy snacks.
Special contribution for advanced manufacturing: Luca Paganelli with the project Pasko. The winning team earns the opportunity to study at X-lab in Beijing, a platform of Tsinghua University—one of the world’s leading institutions in engineering and computer science—with which the University of Bergamo recently established a partnership.
Special contribution for creative and cultural industries: Samir Legdah with Blunì, an app helping university students accelerate their studies by providing a space to share notes and documents.
Additional non-sector-specific contributions enriched the project valorization opportunities:
The Young Entrepreneurs Group of Confindustria Bergamo awarded Paolo Ralli with the project Multiglasses two years of membership fees and one year of mentoring as the best business idea ready to enter the market.
Bergamo Sviluppo – Special Agency of the Bergamo Chamber of Commerce offered Esterga by Luciano Fedeli a discount on service purchases.
Fondazione Pesenti awarded Photocatalytic Foam by Cristian Prometti a special contribution of €2,500 as the project with the highest social impact.
The initiative involved 13 teams of aspiring entrepreneurs in this final phase, most under 30 years old, highlighting the best business projects aimed at enhancing the economic and cultural development of society.
The projects were evaluated in two sessions: in the first, closed-door session, the Jury assessed all entries and selected 6 projects to proceed; in the second session, the finalists presented their entrepreneurial project in three minutes through a concise and persuasive “elevator pitch” before a Jury of academics, entrepreneurs, investors, and the BergamoScienza public.
