Research Gateway: Veolia's bridge project linking scientific research and industry to accelerate the energy transition in Italy
The energy transition and decarbonization require scientific innovation ready for the real world, scalable solutions, and collaborations between research and industry. Emerging technologies and skills from research offer concrete opportunities to improve energy efficiency and develop new sustainable business models, especially when combined with entrepreneurial capabilities and supported by access to real systems and plants essential for industrial validation.
To turn these potentials into concrete projects, Veolia in Italy launches Research Gateway, an acceleration programme designed to connect research teams from Italian universities and research centres with the ecosystem of an international leader in environmental services.
The Call is aimed at academic teams and research organisations with technological solutions and prototypes in the fields of energy efficiency and indoor environment. The initiative specifically seeks to promote projects that introduce innovations for energy optimisation, production and storage, and for improving building performance and indoor wellbeing.
Research Gateway offers the opportunity to join a targeted entrepreneurial training pathway, receive technical mentorship, and potentially access Veolia Group infrastructures and plants for real-scale testing, as well as introductions to investors and industrial partners. The goal is to accelerate technology maturation, support replicability on the Italian and European markets, and generate measurable environmental and social impacts.
The programme is carried out in collaboration with the Circular Economy Lab — an initiative of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and Cariplo Factory — which strengthens the pathway with strategic expertise and visibility within the innovation ecosystem. This initiative represents a unique opportunity for research actors who want to turn scientific results into competitive, sustainable industrial solutions.
Scouting
Research Gateway is primarily aimed at researchers, university research groups and Italian research centres with innovative projects and prototypes in the fields of Smart Energy Systems and Indoor Wellbeing. Veolia in Italy is looking for innovative, scalable research projects that can potentially be integrated into its industrial assets.
Selection and Demo Day
After an initial scouting phase of applications, the projects and solutions with the greatest potential will be selected to participate in the Demo Day, which will be held in June 2026 at Veolia’s headquarters in Paris.
On that occasion, the finalist teams will present their projects to the heads of Veolia’s Business Units in Italy, to technical contacts, and to Top Management.
The purpose of the meeting is to give participants the opportunity to showcase their project idea or technological solution to Veolia’s management teams, fostering the creation of industrial and commercial collaborations and identifying potential investors and partners to support the scaling phase.
Awards, Opportunities & Project Developments
The 10 selected teams will advance to the next stages of the programme, focused on developing strategic collaborations with the Veolia Group.
Participating in the first edition of Research Gateway is not just an opportunity: it means entering a concrete environment of experimentation, growth and impact.
Specifically, the programme offers the selected teams:
- In preparation for the Demo Day, participation in a training, acceleration and scalability support pathway promoted by Veolia in collaboration with qualified partners and industry experts.
- The possibility to develop Proofs of Concept (PoC) and pilot tests within Veolia’s industrial ecosystem, to verify the effectiveness of solutions in real-world and commercial-scale contexts.
- Access to investment opportunities, both direct and indirect, thanks to the programme’s network of qualified investors and industrial partners.
- Participation in Viva Technology in Paris, one of Europe’s leading events dedicated to innovation and technology.
- Access to an international Master’s programme: one selected organisation will be chosen by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and may attend a Master in Circular Economy, Strategy & Sustainability organised by the University of Exeter, thanks to the partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
