In a sector focused on sustainability and efficiency, Terna is taking on an ambitious challenge: managing an increasingly complex transmission grid, based on non-programmable and intermittent renewable sources, through cutting-edge technology. The Group is responsible for implementing the electric system of the future and enabling a just twin transition (energy and digital), to make the system reliable and accessible to all.
The Innovation Zone Forum was Terna's first initiative to address this global challenge, by placing international innovation and energy players around the same table and adopting an open innovation approach as the tool to implement cutting-edge technologies in a decarbonized and digitalized future.
The Forum - organized by Terna with the help of the Italian Innovation and Culture Hub (INNOVIT), of the Italian Consulate General in San Francisco, and of its partner Mind the Bridge - gathered Silicon Valley's clean tech investors, European and US energy players, startups and research representatives in California. Terna's delegation was guided by its Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Giuseppina Di Foggia, who commented, "Terna is on its way to confirm itself as a leading company in the technological innovation field, in the service of a just energy and digital transition. The Innovation Zone Forum consolidated our role as aggregator of international innovation players, especially in the energy sector."
Terna's CEO highlighted that "San Francisco is the perfect place to tackle the technological challenges posed by this transition together: our approach is to work alongside leading technological players, through Terna's Innovation Zones, our hubs in global innovation ecosystems."
Then, Giuseppina Di Foggia added: "As strategic company for the Country, we are responsible for promoting Italian innovation excellence abroad. This is why we set off on a path to enhance startups, working side by side with them to get them ready to the US market, bringing them with us to San Francisco to introduce them to new interlocutors and potential investors in the Bay Area and present their technologies. Their goal is finding new customers and investors in the United States. We believe in the innovative solutions promoted by those startups, and in their ability to tackle the technological challenges posed by the energy transition with us."
The first day of the Terna Innovation Zone Forum, on 28 October, was devoted to the Italian Energy Showcase: at INNOVIT's headquarters, five Italian startups presented their energy-related technologies to the Silicon Valley innovators and investors ecosystem. Those technologies, concerning several fields, such as electric infrastructure maintenance, network operation and resilience, have been tested by Terna as industrial validator. Some of the startups are part of Terna Forward portfolio, the Group's Corporate Venture Capital company, while others worked alongside Terna during key projects. Beside taking part in the event, the startups were involved in several business meetings with investment funds and international companies, organized by Terna through its Bay Area network.
The second day of the forum, on 29 October, dedicated to the Energy Industry Innovation Talk: Focus on Grid, was held in Mind the Bridge's headquarters (partner of Terna in San Francisco). This initiative represented an important opportunity for interaction and debate between Terna, other European and US energy companies, and first-rate clean tech investment funds. The event revolved around the discussion and identification of the common challenges and technological solutions useful to manage the future power grid, in order to prioritize their development in the global innovation agenda. Some of the concrete examples of innovative technologies presented include a solution brought forward by one of the startups, in which Terna and the Spanish grid operator both invested through their respective Corporate Venture Capital companies, proving the share commitment to innovation for energy transition. The startup's proposal is an asset management solution based on an AI-powered software and advanced visual data analysis. This tool can automatically detect infrastructural faults, offering an innovative asset management approach. These solutions make monitoring and maintenance processes more efficient, and also promote a quick and proactive fault identification, to ensure greater reliability and operational continuity of the grid critical resources.
The Innovation Zone Forum in San Francisco is the first noteworthy international initiative organised by Terna in its Silicon Valley Innovation Zone.
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