Italy-Milan: Action for 5G - connected mobility.

Project/objectives description:

"Action for 5G" is an initiative promoted by Vodafone Italia S.p.A. The objective of the "Action for 5G" call, carried out in collaboration with PoliHub, Innovation Park & Startup Accelerator of the Politecnico di Milano and managed by the Politecnico di Milano Foundation, is to stimulate and support the birth of innovative projects that identify 5G as the distinctive enabling factor and more generally of:

• affect the development of the 5G ecosystem, technological and productive.
• help set future standards for new technology.
• promote the dissemination of knowledge and skills that allow maximum use of the potential of new generation networks.
• be a stimulus to creativity in the development of services and applications that maximize the social, economic and environmental impact of digital transformation.
• make the communications infrastructure the new substrate strongly integrated and shaped on the local territory.

The "Action for 5G" Call rewards projects, solutions and innovations that are particularly synergistic withVodafone's strategy in the following priority sectors:

• Digital Health & Wellbeing: psychophysical and work / life balance, healthy lifestyle, food safety, prevention and non-invasive vital and behavioral monitoring, remote diagnostics, social-health care, accessible and tailored rehabilitation and assistance, scalable and modular solutions.
• Secure, Sustainable & Connected Mobility: real time alerts and driving behaviour, predictive road conditions, cooperative collision avoidance, vulnerable road users protection, autonomous/assisted vehicles, aftermarket connected vehicles V2X, accidents reconstruction, low environmental impact, traffic & transportation efficiency, Mobility as a Service for shared vehicles/transportation.
• Green Economy & Energy Management: energy use optimization for each equipment, monitoring and energy saving, smart grid, zero waste, reuse & retrofit to make smart and connected devices, land protection and environmental monitoring.

Using one or more of the following innovative technologies:

• AI/Machine Learning.
• Holography.
• Human-Machine Collaboration.
• Multi Access Edge Computing (MEC).
• Robotics.
• Computer Vision.
• V2X & Collaborative Vehicle.
• XR / Extended Reality.
• Wearable & Smart Device.
• 3D capturing & modeling.

Making the most of 5G and/or Vodafone Platforms:

• Ultra-Mobile Broadband of 5G for high mobile connection speed (10-100 Mbps per user with peaks of 1-20Gbps).
• Millisecond latency of 5G for interactive, ultra-reliable communications with ultra-low latency (1-10ms).
• Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) for highly scalable, distributed intelligence and orchestration of connected and collaborative objects.
• Safer Transport for Europe Platform (STEP) for V2X cooperative mobility solutions that share data and information with automotive operators, application developers, road infrastructure managers and the automotive industry.

Eligibility criteria:

The Call is addressed to the subjects listed below and in possession of the following requirements:

• Startups already established with solid metrics (e.g., turnover, customers) and trained and dedicated teams.
• Small and Medium Enterprises ("SMEs") with assets, resources and teams dedicated to the project presented.
• Social Enterprises operating in the sectors considered to be of social utility with assets, resources and teams dedicated to the project presented.

Reward:

The Call is structured by Phases and provides for the provision of funding and resources to support the development of the projects of only startups and companies that pass the selection phases. What we offer:

• Funding: financial support for tech development: Up to € 50.000 - equity free - for all finalists for the construction of the Prototype; Up to € 300.000 - convertible into equity - for winners who choose the “Seed-Capital” path to support the Product Development, in addition to in-kind services offered by Vodafone for the entire duration of the program.
• Vodafone MEC: Edge Cloud resources and tech support.
• Vodafone Consulting: Mentorship, networking and visibility.
• Open Lab: Spaces, infrastructure and test devices.
• Vodafone STEP: Cooperative mobility platform.
• PoliHub Support: Coaching and dedicated services.

Published on 04 November 2022.