“SnamUp” Celebration Day: awarding employees’ best idea on open innovation

An app for 'digitalizing' and locating gas infrastructure, an innovative service station for sustainable natural gas mobility, initiatives for promoting areas crossed by gas pipelines in Italy. These are just some of the themes of the finalists' projects that were presented at the ' Call4Ideas 2019' awards event launched by Snam as part of its 'SnamUp' open innovation platform.

The prize was awarded to the 'Gridfinder' initiative, produced by 15 people from the Snam district of Dalmine (Bergamo), who will now have the opportunity to undertake an acceleration path at one of the main Italian innovation hubs to carry out their project. 'Gridfinder' is an idea for a digital platform (available via app) that allows companies and private individuals to automatically check the existence of Snam infrastructure in the area, making work more efficient and less problematic.

Snam CEO Marco Alverà said: ' The goal of this initiative is to enhance the distinctive skills of our people and offer everyone the opportunity to contribute their ideas to the growth and development of Snam. Thanks to projects like this we aim to encourage a culture of widespread innovation and to increasingly stimulate cross-functional collaboration in the company'.

The prize-giving event, held in San Donato Milanese, was attended by Elena Zambon, president of the Zambon pharmaceutical group, creator of Bresso's OpenZone Hub and promoter of open innovation at an international level, and by Cosma Panzacchi, Snam Digital Transformation & Technology Executive Vice President. The event included a pitch from the 5 finalists (on a total of 200 projects), which were then assessed by a judging panel composed of Snam top management.

Snam's open innovation goal is to promote the exchange of ideas and innovative projects with a view to creating new business opportunities, targeting both its employees and startups. The ' Call4Ideas' programme, which is targeted at the company's internal audience, focused on five strategic challenges for the future of the company (Future Workplace, Smart Asset, G-Mobility, Snam4Impact and Future of Gas), while the 'Call4Startups' programme focuses instead on 12 strands: remote monitoring, digitalization of assets, emission control, selection and promotion of talent, smart building, augmented and virtual reality, IoT (Internet of Things), knowledge sharing, cybersecurity, smart safety, energy efficiency and decarbonisation. With regard to this latest initiative, 5 startups were selected who will have the opportunity to present their solutions to Snam's management during ad-hoc demo-days.