Pulsee, Play for Future 2021

Pulsee is the Axpo Italia group's brand specialized in 100% digital, sustainable, customizable, and transparent home energy solutions. 

Building on the experience and learning gained from launching its first hackathon in 2019, the company decided in March 2021 to renew its commitment to supporting the innovation community by launching the Play for Future 2021 challenge. 

“Our proposal focused on creating an open innovation program to support the generation of new ideas and their real integration into customer needs,” comments Lucrezia Argentino, project manager at Opinno Italy. 

Pulsee Play for the Future targets an audience composed of the startup and innovator ecosystem, and individuals who are building or participating in projects or want to develop their own ideas: young talents, university students and graduates, technology enthusiasts, developers, and innovators in general. 

"Every day we are committed to improving and simplifying our customers' energy management and we have the ambition to combine it with services that can improve their lifestyle. Pulsee Play For Future represents an important step in our growth, to continue innovating and bringing tools and solutions aligned with consumer needs to the market. Pulsee will continue to invest in sustainable innovation: young people and startups are fundamental players in accelerating the modernization of our sector," commented Alicia Lubrani, Chief Marketing Officer of Axpo Italia, to which Pulsee belongs. 

The challenge was presented in three categories that were successively announced over three-month periods. The first call, Sustainability & Green Energy, coincided with the project launch during Milan Digital Week in March 2021. This was followed by calls in June and September for New Normal, aimed at attracting innovation regarding new habits in the post-coronavirus world, and finally, Lifestyle & Passion, which considered new leisure solutions such as gaming, music, cooking, and other disciplines in their transition from the analog to the digital world. 

Our role in the project was that of an Open Innovation Partner, starting with the program design and creating the project's road map, and content creation such as the landing page, production of promotional and educational video capsules to encourage participation, and hosting webinars for each of the challenges with the three opinion leader ambassadors in each category. The work continued with the reception and analysis of applications and accompanying the teams until the final event. 

From the 130 proposals initially received, Opinno collaborated in the first selection of the 31 ideas that showed the best potential, subsequently grouping them into the three challenge categories. 

During more than 60 hours of mentoring, we accompanied the participating teams throughout the process, helping them adapt their proposals to Pulsee's strategic interests. Finally, the 3 teams selected from each group voted to present their projects in the pitch battle that took place during the final event. 

Although the development was initially planned as an entirely digital platform due to the pandemic, we were ultimately fortunate enough to be able to organize the closing event on May 4th in Milan in person, thus enriching the experience for all participants. 

The three winners in order of ranking were: WIZ, a device that measures the energy footprint of household appliances; Senex, a digital assistance service for the senior population; and Blaster Foundry, which brings the Pulsee brand closer to Generation Z through video games and the learning potential of gamification. In addition, special mention was given to the young students of the Enricho Fermi Institute in Rome for their Pulsee Extension project. 

At Opinno Italy, we value our collaboration in Pulsee Play for Future 2021 as one of the most rewarding works we have done, for the privilege of being able to support the talent of young innovators. It is, ultimately, a new generation whose contribution will be key in defining everyone's future.