63rd Genoa International Boat Show Day 3 Events

63rd Genoa International Boat Show © Confindustria Nautica

10 innovative start-ups presented: products, services and innovations created not just for yachting but to protect the sea and its ecosystem

The morning of the 63rd Genoa International Boat Show's third day of events saw two presentations dedicated to Start-ups and their proposals: new ideas, products, and services created not just for yachting but for protecting the sea and its ecosystem.

As part of the Italian StartUp initiative, organised by the Italian Marine Industry Association in partnership with the Italian Trade Agency, the 10 Start-ups that took part in the project were presented on the stage of the Blue Pavilion Terrace.

"Once again this year, thanks to the support of the Italian Trade Agency, we can begin the presentation of our selected start-ups," stated Alessandro Gianneschi, Vice President of the Italian Marine Industry Association.

"An event that returns for its third year and is always renewed. The yachting sector is doing very well, with over 7 billion euros in turnover. So it becomes necessary at this point to support and pay attention to what can be the next innovations for the sector. The topics driving the current debate focus on energy, software, handling, and green.

Thanks to the promotion of start-ups related to the yachting world, the initiative by the Italian Marine Industry Association and the Italian Trade Agency enables the Made in Italy brand of excellence to consolidate its position in the sector, offering the development of new and innovative projects as one of its central objectives every year. The themes and fields of application are manifold: from customised high-performance batteries, to self-sanitising eco-design products, from virtual immersive experiences to explore the marine environment, to marketplaces to organise yachting holidays, to integrated IoT platforms for on-board safety and sea mapping.

The ten start-ups presented were: Galvani Power (fast, large-volume batteries), Goldelite (design products with innovative and sustainable materials), Immersea (immersive digital content in VR and IR to explore the seabed), InNavi (marketplace service for boat rental between private individuals and training for fully digital boating), Linkable (proposes a new idea of light, safe and sustainable mobility by designing smarter electric bicycles and scooters), MyMine (a tracking service for keeping track of what matters), AcquaCarbon (specialised in the design and production of carbon fibre components including Easyway), OceanHIS (BlueBox Integrated System, a portable laboratory for monitoring the state of well-being of the sea), Leonardo Pedestal (a modular and innovative dispenser column with an air-conditioning system for small and medium-sized boats), Yacht Specialist (the first social network dedicated to pleasure boating professionals to promote companies and industry professionals).

Closing the showcase event was Carlo La Rotonda of RetImpresa, who commented: "We work with the Italian Marine Industry Association to enhance the value of companies. Identifying ideal partners has become a true value. RetImpresa is an agency that deals precisely with this issue. It is a useful tool for small and medium-sized enterprises. To date we have reached over 8700 networks. The network operates in all sectors and at the moment most of the companies involved are start-ups'. Alessandro Armetta of Factory Accademia confirmed the importance of young people recovering innovation in the form of start-ups. "With Factory Accademia we evaluate startups that have an interesting idea and take help them dialogue with larger companies. By doing this we create value for both the large company and the start-up, aiming to understand whether the technology works or not. We do a lot of scouting, with the objective of creating more structured innovation for start-ups."

The second event, organised by the Liguria Region and Liguria International, was divided into four panels, during which multiple came to the forefront from among start-up representatives, sector experts and technicians. The interventions were moderated by Maria Nives Riggio, Deputy General Manager - FILSE Finanziaria Ligure per lo Sviluppo Economico and Pietro De Martino, BIC Business Incubator - FILSE Finanziaria Ligure per lo Sviluppo Economico. The four round tables were focused on the themes of "Nautical Start Ups and Maritime Comparisons", "Design of the Future", "Smart Solutions for New Energy", "New Technologies for Environmental Protection", and "The Frontiers of Innovative Materials".

This same morning, the Italian Marine Industry Association also organised a training session dedicated to the Conservatoria Nautica and STED, the online sports registry for boaters, a tool that can enable new registrations of yachting units in a central digital archive.

Saturday's programme was also brimming with events at the Eberhard & Co. Theatre in the Living the Sea section of the Genoa International Boat Show. The programme opened with a meeting devoted to 'Safety at Sea', organised by Harken Italia, during which experts in the sector tackled the safety issues that are always topical and extremely important for all yachtspeople. Speakers at the meeting included safety expert Umberto Verna, President of the "I Ragazzi del Parsifal" Association, and sailor Paolo Semeraro.

Next, Northern Lights Composites presented the EcoRacer OD 30, a completely recyclable one-design sailing yacht designed by Matteo Polli and fresh from a special mention received last night during the Design Innovation Award, as well as the new Eco Yachts brand. A new, young and dynamic reality, which with its EcoRacer OD 30 - the first totally eco-sustainable sailing boat - recently won the Genoa Blue District's Call For Innovation, a tender for entries that selected a series of innovative projects linked to the blue economy.

Lastly, there were four events organised directly by the Italian Sailing Federation FIV, in the presence of Federation President Francesco Ettorre, starting with the award ceremony of the Tuscan Archipelago Trophy, a circuit that includes four important offshore regattas in the Tyrrhenian Sea organised by four historical sailing clubs, and the finals of the Italian eSailing Team Championship, a virtual sailing competition held on the stage of the Eberhard & Co. Theatre.

This was followed by the presentation of the Italian Off-shore Sailing Championship 2024, the most important event for off-shore boats, scheduled to take place next year in Brindisi, and the talk show 'Mission: Paris 2024', a meeting with the Technical Director of the Italian Olympic Team Michele Marchesini, the man behind the recent Italian successes in the Olympic classes, with the former Italian athletics champion Silvia Salis, current Deputy Vice President of CONI, with President Ettorre himself. The event was an exciting overview of the Italian Olympic sailing movement less than a year before the Paris 2024 Games kick off, which for sailing will be held in Marseille, on the Mediterranean.

A focus on younger generations took the stage during the events organised by the University of Genoa, the first of which was entitled "Unige meets the Yachting Industry), the second dedicated to taking stock of the status quo, current trends, and future prospects of Yacht Interior Design. During this latter event, Franco Michienzi, editor-in-chief of Barche magazine, presented the award organised by his magazine and dedicated to the memory of Paola Galeazzi, founder with her husband Giovanni Zuccon of the Zuccon International Project studio, one of the leading names in yacht design. The award is intended to reward the project of "A boat that is not yet here, but which can be built" and is reserved for young yacht designers.

The day ended with the Genoa International Boat Show's Official Timekeeper Eberhard & Co's event "Tackling time and the sea" and a performance by the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, which accompanied the closing of the event on the notes of Domenico Modugno's greatest hits.