We put Start-ups to the test in the 4th edition of the Pasion>ie program

Pasion>ie, the program that combines innovation, entrepreneurship and passion, recently ended its 4th edition. Promoted by Accenture and IE Business School, in cooperation with Ferrovial, the program aims to support start-ups and the innovator community by providing a bridge to the world of business and supporting the launch of innovative projects that have the potential to improve the world we live in.

Awards were presented to the winning projects: Metrikea, Acuérdalo and Insulclock in the ‘City of the Future’, ‘Retail of the future’ and ‘Healthcare of the future’ categories, respectively.

The winners get the ultimate prize: seeing their idea become a reality. The teams receive the support and networking they need to grow their idea. They also receive other prizes, such as insurance for entrepreneurs, store vouchers, start-up training programs, personalized legal advice, preferential tickets to sports events, and co-working space.

The competition was conducted via www.pasionie.com, a platform that has clocked up over 1.3 million visits since the first edition and has over 5,000 registered users.

The winning projects in the 4th edition of Pasion>ie were:

• ‘City of the future’ category: Metrikea project

The developers of Metrikea describe it as “Google Analytics” for the physical world. It is a solution that makes it possible to analyze client behavior in a large physical space, such as a department store.

Sensors capture information about customers from their mobile phones, such as how often they visit, and ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ zones of the store. Using this information, stores can increase sales and enhance service quality.

• ‘Retail of the future’ category: Acuérdalo project

An online store where the customer sets the price and negotiates on the spot in order to shop at very competitive prices. It offers vendors a tool to sell their products without revealing the price to search engines.

• ‘Healthcare of the future’ category: Insulclock project

Insulclock was designed to improve living standards for people with diabetes. This patented system consists of a small device that is coupled with an insulin injector pen, which sends information to an app and thence to the cloud. Insulclock gathers the data so as to enable the endocrinologist, the patient and/or the patient’s caregiver to track blood sugar readings and monitor insulin dosage.

Promoting innovation by Start-ups

Since January 2015, Ferrovial has been working with the program by mentoring 5 of the 12 finalists, providing its specialized know-how to guide their projects. Since then, Ferrovial’s Innovation and Processes Department has been assisted by people from the business units and HR in assessing the projects and giving them feedback.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Ferrovial has participated in this program, which enables it to look for innovative proposals in the ‘City of the Future‘ category, whose challenges are aligned with the company’s three priority innovation areas: waste treatment, energy efficiency and smart cities.

Ferrovial sees innovation as a strategic tool to respond to the global challenges facing the infrastructure industry. Ferrovial has numerous in-house initiatives to promote innovation; however, those processes must be enriched through an ecosystem that is open to alliances with entrepreneurs and start-ups.