On Tuesday 11 December on the initiative of the European Commission’s European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot, Veolia hosted 14 start-ups and innovative European companies for pitching & networking sessions at its headquarters in Aubervilliers. It was an opportunity for these entrepreneurs to present their solutions to transforming business to around a hundred Veolia employees.
Making businesses more agile, flexible, human and collaborative
Initiated by Veolia's Research and Innovation Department, the event focused on four major themes:
- improving the "employee experience", boosting employee motivation and commitment;
- reinventing working methods, developing a more agile and collaborative corporate culture
- rethinking processes and organizations in order to improve performance and productivity
- improving relations with customers and with any other ecosystem actor.
Throughout the day, 14 SMEs and start-ups presented their solutions and business models. Individual meetings explored the ways start-ups and Veolia could collaborate.
The pitch & networking event in figures:
- 14 start-ups and innovative SMEs from Germany, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and Sweden pitched.
- 115 BtoB meetings were organized.
- 65 Veolia employees participated in the event; they came from various Group entities across the world: Africa and Middle East, Latin America, Northern Europe, United Kingdom and Ireland, France (water, recycling and waste recovery), Veolia Water Technologies, Nova Veolia, headquarters (legal, development, innovation and markets, technical and performance, and research and innovation departments).
Start-ups and SMEs:
720 Degrees Oy (Finland) - Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) through sensors in office buildings
Ablio S.R.L. (Italy) - Live language interpretation services
Bioservo Technologies AB (Sweden) - Portable muscle strengthening systems for intensive work situations
Cassantec (Germany) - Improve predictive maintenance and reduce operating and maintenance costs
Cognuse (Estonia) - Voice-guided application for transparent compliance with procedural and audit directives
Concilio (France) - High quality health services platform for businesses
CoReorient Oy/Ltd (Finland) - Shared equipment and services for employees
Cross Border Talents (Portugal) - Just-in-time digital skills method to recruit and train candidates
Datapole (France) - Software publisher dedicated to optimizing human and material resources
DidSon Sarl (France) - Innovative noise suppression technology
HappyOrNot OY (Finland) - Instant employee satisfaction report
iLocator ApS (Germany) - Raw infrastructure data acquisition and predictive maintenance
Linknovate Science (Spain) - Data analysis to detect the activity of competitors and potential partners
SaferMe (Sweden) - Advanced mobile health and safety management platform, designed for teams working in medium to high risk industries
European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot
The aim of the European Innovation Council pilot (EIC pilot) is to support high-level innovators, start-ups, small businesses and researchers who offer radically different solutions in terms of existing products, services or business models, and that have potential for international development.