Endesa: seventh consecutive year at South Summit where “Innovability” attracts entrepreneurs

• This year, the biggest start-up and innovation fair in southern Europe has reinvented its format to work around the health crisis, while also creating a digital platform to connect all ecosystem players even better.
• Endesa's presence for the seventh consecutive year clearly demonstrates its commitment to its open but always sustainable innovation model. "Innovability", innovation as a driver of sustainability, will again be the hallmark of our company and of the projects to be shared at the event. A different way of meeting the energy challenges of today and tomorrow, which seeks to innovate by focusing on accelerating sustainability.
• Endesa is dedicating an exclusive area on its website to the South Summit, which will be updated daily, with direct links to the events in which Endesa is taking part, along with added-value content on the initiatives that are presented. 

Endesa is to take part in the latest edition of South Summit, the biggest innovation and start-up fair in southern Europe to be broadcast from 6-8 October from Madrid.

South Summit will be reinventing itself to work around the situation caused by the pandemic. Even though its organisation will feature some significant differences this year, its goal remains the same: to bring together the major players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem worldwide. Indeed, reinvention is the key to overcoming new challenges and continuing to grow.

This is something to which Endesa continues to be committed through open innovation, a model that the company has been working on for more than ten years that encourages close collaboration with entrepreneurs to develop solutions that will enable the transformation of the current energy model, something that is more necessary than ever to help the country's economy to recover.

Due to the health crisis, there will be no physical space this year; however, thanks to a new digital format accessible to everyone everywhere, Endesa will be able to present some of its most exciting initiatives in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Under the slogan 'South Summit 100', the organisation has created a global, omnichannel digital platform, which will allow the ecosystem to multiply its opportunities for connection, business and innovation even more. La Nave, the South Summit's headquarters since 2016, will be the nerve centre in which the different sets will be located and from where all the scheduled events will be broadcast. This year, for the first time, the surroundings of the Royal Palace will also become an innovation centre, offering a variety of areas for outdoor networking and private meetings. Other Madrid landmarks will also serve as venues hosting debates on the hottest topics in the sector.

The multi-channel digital platform will enable all attendees from anywhere in the world to connect to ecosystem players like Endesa in order to enjoy other exclusive content linked to innovation and access the VIP meetings that will be broadcast every afternoon.

Endesa CEO, José Bogas, and María Benjumea, chairperson and founder of The South Summit, will be meeting to analyse the commitment of large corporations to open innovation and how innovation and sustainability inexorably go hand in hand. This meeting can be followed on Thursday 7 October from 3 pm on the South Summit digital platform, which can be accessed by registering here.

Endesa Participation

Among the main topics to be discussed over the three days (tracks and verticals), Endesa experts will take part in:

The HEALTH track (Tuesday 6 October):

• Ignacio Día de Tuesta, a cardiovascular surgeon, pilot and inventor, will talk about how they developed the 'Andalucía Respira' respirator during the lockdown, which is the only alternative to conventional respirators with CE marking in the field of clinical research authorised by the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) and Endesa’s role in the project.

The MOBILITY & SMARTCITIES track (Wednesday 7 October):

• We present one of our flagship projects, the #eCitySevilla project, a public-private collaborative initiative led by the Regional Government of Andalusia, Seville City Council, Cartuja Science and Technology Park and Endesa, which proposes the development of a model city in an open, digital, carbon-free and sustainable ecosystem by 2025, anticipating the energy and climate targets set for 2050 by twenty-five years.  On completion of the project in 2025, the Isla de la Cartuja will have a 100% renewable energy supply, efficient buildings and charging points to foster sustainable electric mobility, all of which will operate on a connected, autonomous system, connected to a fully digitised smart grid that will be smart-managed from an open data platform.

The ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY track (Wednesday 7 October):

• Viewers will have a chance to learn all about our Innovation Hub in Madrid “Enel Innovation Hub Europe”, thanks to which over 160 collaborations with start-ups have been set up to date. There will also be ReShape, a new, open innovation call for startups and SMEs with six new challenges that will help the group to redesign our business in the post-Covid period, while maintaining our leadership in energy transition.
• Two start-ups that have collaborated with us over the past year will be presenting their success stories.
• The event will also feature CONFIA, a pioneering project in Europe that uses blockchain technology to speed up the processing of energy poverty cases as much as possible. Malaga City Council, the University of Malaga, Alastria, Endesa teams and an number of suppliers have joined forces for this project to launch another great “Innovability” project, highlighting innovation at the service of sustainability, which focuses on highly vulnerable customers.

On the CONSUMER TRENDS track (Thursday 8 October):

• The consumer trend towards subscription models and the evolution of tariffs takes centre stage in this talk. Here at Endesa, we are also reinventing ourselves, which is why we have created a new energy subscription model: UNIQUE one that is much more than a flat rate, because you can consume all the electricity and/or gas you need with the knowledge that you will always pay the same amount, namely, a single fixed monthly fee with no price reviews or surprises. In addition, it uses 100% renewable energy, not to mention compensation for the CO₂ emissions from your gas consumption, with no ties or long-term commitment, no regularisation and rewards for efficient energy consumption in the form of discounts on the next bill.

Endesa, member of the jury

As is the custom at each edition, 100 finalist start-ups will have the opportunity to present their ideas and seek to be the winner of the different verticals (Healthcare & Wellbeing,; Education, Future of Work, Mobility & Smartcities, Energy & Sustainability, Connectivity & Data, Fintech, Consumer Trends and Travel). The finalists have already been selected from the more than 3,800 projects entered in the Start-up Competition, 75% of which are international in origin.

Endesa is to form part of the jury that will be responsible for choosing the winning start-ups in the Energy & Sustainability category. Among the most important selection criteria, the innovation offered by the project, its scalability or internal growth capacity, its economic viability, the team of professionals involved and the investment interest it may generate will be taken into account. The winners in each category will then compete against each other. The outright winner of South Summit Madrid 2020 will be announced on the last day of the fair.