Aigües de Barcelona, CaixaBank, Naturgy, SEAT and Telefónica join forces with 5 startups to boost innovation

• ● The winners are Lang.Ai, PlayFilm, Séntisis Analytics, Smart IoT Labs and Unmanned Life, with solutions based on artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, robots and unmanned vehicles management ● The winning startups will perform pilot projects with the promoter companies of Start4big, which together have 380 million customers and account for over 2% of GDP ● Start4big is launching a second Wave of Innovation with new challenges focused on biometric authentication, augmented and virtual reality, technologies for smart cities, sustainability and circular economy

Start4big, Today, Start4big, the first European multisector open innovation initiative promoted by Aigües de Barcelona, CaixaBank, Naturgy, SEAT and Telefónica, has announced the five winning startups of its first Wave of Innovation: Lang.Ai, PlayFilm, Séntisis Analytics, Smart IoT Labs and Unmanned Life. In the coming weeks, the winners will undertake pilot projects together with the promoter companies of Start4big, which are present in over 80 countries and have an enormous portfolio of customers of around 380 million people worldwide.

The winning startups have successfully passed a selection process that started in December 2018 with the launch of 4 challenges established by the Start4big partners to improve and personalise users experience in real time, consumption at home and new connectivity-associated services. A jury of 32 judges, who are international experts in different areas of technology and innovation, plus 76 internal judges from the corporate areas and business units of each company involved in Start4big, evaluated the 173 projects submitted (43% international). The 40 best candidates reached the final phase of the competition and eventually 5 winners were chosen.

The winners were announced today at a press conference featuring the participation of María Monzó, Director of Innovation and Knowledge of Aigües de Barcelona; Jordi Nicolau, Executive Director of CaixaBank; Silvia Sanjoaquín, Manager of Client Innovation of Naturgy; Núria Domínguez, Manager of Business Partnership & Open Innovation of SEAT and Bruno Vilarasau, Director of Digital Services of Telefónica Mediterráneo.

Winning startups and pilot projects

- LANG.AI is a platform for understanding language in any languages without human supervision. It uses Data Science and artificial intelligence to automate any non-structured text analysis process: results of surveys, comments on social media, chatbots and call centre transcriptions.

The first pilot will be with CaixaBank: artificial intelligence will be used to analyse open question texts in satisfaction surveys with a view to identifying points for improvement. Chatbot texts for employees will also be analysed (assistant that simulates holding a conversation, albeit with automatic responses) to define subjects of interest for these publics and to answer their needs and improve their experience.

- PLAYFILM is a tool that creates a video quiz to improve mobile campaigns on Facebook and Instagram and enhance connection with users. The video quiz is created without a need for programmers and consists of a video that gives the user a challenge.

Its pilot will be performed as a global project for Start4big, specifically in the process of communication and attraction of startups for the second Wave of Innovation.

- SÉNTISIS analyses digital channel text in real time using its own technology based on artificial intelligence and supervised machine learning. Results have shown an accuracy of over 90% for texts and 85% in analysing feelings. The goal is to improve understanding of customers and thus be able to adapt digital strategy.

Séntisis will perform three pilot projects, two of which are with Naturgy.  The first will indicate the perception users have of the brand through campaigns, customer experience, etc. The purpose is to define a differential strategy that provides users with greater value and makes the company more competitive. The purpose of the second pilot is to yield greater knowledge of its gas customers’ needs and concerns with a view to adapting its strategy and services offered.  The third pilot, which is with SEAT, will analyse the public comments made by people in social media associated with electric cars and mobility solutions in order to determine customers’ doubts and concerns and try to solve them by giving responses and creating relevant content on the brand’s web page.

- SMART IOT LABS redefines the notion of a smart home. The company is developing a new generation of virtual assistants for homes and other environments. It combines artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to offer proactive, autonomous services and anticipate user needs.

The pilot project will be with Naturgy, Aigües de Barcelona and SEAT. Its goal is to co-design –with customers– new personalised services that improve comfort and help to manage home consumption, which include communication with the vehicle to offer these services.

- UNMANNED LIFE has developed a software platform for managing air and land vehicles and other robotic systems totally autonomously, without human intervention and with a unique management system. It may be applied in Industry 4.0, in sectors such as the supply chain, telecommunications, public security and transport.

The pilot project will be performed with SEAT and Telefónica. Tests will be done to determine how Unmanned Life, with a single software, manages to connect and to coordinate different assets involved in the automated supply process for SEAT parts: mobile robots, self-driving vehicles and even drones. Telefónica will offer the best connectivity on the market –5G– to coordinate them with precision in real time. The pilot will simultaneously combine this technology with 4G so that robots can switch from one to the other and the coexistence of the two networks on the market will be tested.

Start4big has also launched a call for its second Wave of Innovation. In this new edition, the 4 challenges established by the partners are:

• Making use of biometric data to increase security and improve user experience in digital transactions and in homes, the car and other infrastructures (facial recognition and other biometric data).
• Improving processes for a company and services for customers through the use of display technology (augmented, virtual and mixed reality).
• Making use of connections among systems and data from the network of infrastructures in urban environments to offer new products and services to citizens in real time (Smart City).
• Making use of circular economy solutions to contribute to sustainable development and to encourage the use of renewable energies (Circular Economy).

Startups interested in taking part have until 15 January to submit their application (at start4big). In March 2020, the selected companies will present their projects before the partner companies and the finalists will be announced in April.

About Start4big: 

Start4big is the open, multi-sectorial innovation initiative promoted by Aigües de Barcelona, CaixaBank, Naturgy, SEAT and Telefónica. It provides startups from around the world with the chance to work with these major corporations on developing and testing prototypes in real environments and access the market more quickly. Its goal is to scout for national and international talent to strengthen the Spanish entrepreneurial fabric and offer valuable solutions to its customers and to society. It is the first time in Europe that five major companies belonging to strategic sectors have combined forces to take open innovation to another level: a multi-sectorial collaborative model in which to develop technological solutions that have an impact on all the areas in which these companies work.