"In Action ESG Climate": most innovative business projects awarded

Intesa Sanpaolo's Insurance Division has named the winners of the "In Action ESG Climate" call for ideas, which was held to provide concrete economic support to Italian companies able to propose innovative projects capable of accelerating the ecological transition.

A total of €600,000 was awarded to the four winning companies, whose proposals, at the end of the selection phases, were found most innovative and met the sustainability and circularity criteria set by the initiative:

• The first prize of €250,000 went to start-up company Isaac for a project concerning an innovative technology to counteract seismic forces acting on buildings, with the aim of expanding its use to protect Italy's architectural heritage, as well as of lowering costs and emissions related to reconstruction
• Second prize of €150,000 went to NDG Natural Development Group for development of new formulations of a biocompatible inorganic carrier which, combined with the use of essential oils, makes plants stronger and better able to defend themselves against pathogen attacks and climate change, resulting in lower Co2 and higher productivity

Third prize of €100,000 was awarded equally to:

• The Okapi Network, which aims to expand communication and the B2B sales channel for its line of plastic-free household cleaning products and personal cosmetics, which ensure limited water transport and the use of concentrated, dilutable, low environmental impact formulations
• Test 1, which develops an absorbent system based on a unique sponge capable of cleaning oceans and seas from accidental hydrocarbon spills for approximately 25 to 30 times its own weight and with the possibility of reuse up to 200 times

The "In Action ESG Climate" call, launched in April 2023 in collaboration with the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Centre, attracted 139 applications, almost double the number of the 2022 edition: number, variety and quality of the projects submitted led the jury to award a third prize to two firms, thus increasing the awards initially envisaged from €500,000 to €600,000.

For the winning companies, monitoring of progress towards project implementation is planned.