Gruppo IREN, the Italian Multi-Utility company, awarded ADEX as the winner of their 2025 Startup Day: Call4AI.
ADEX was selected from a shortlist of eight finalists, chosen among 170 applicants, over 40% of which were international. Iren will launch collaborations with the selected startups through industrial, experimental, or commercial partnerships.
Organized together with the Circular Economy Lab, an initiative of
Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, and Cariplo Factory, the 2024/25 edition of the Iren Startup Award selection process began in October 2024, identifying the most innovative solutions with advanced digital capabilities, AI integration, and high adaptability to Iren Group’s systems and processes. The Iren Startup Award aims to identify and implement technological solutions that optimize and improve efficiency across various business units in line with the group’s industrial plan.
ADEX develops a Self-tuning AI Control Technology that makes thermal power plants more efficient and more flexible. These features are critical to enable Energy Transition, by completing intermittent renewables.
Particularly, the Italian Market is quite demanding for thermal power plants. In 2023, 45% of the electricity mix was done by gas power plants, which had to back up +20% from non-dispatchable Wind & Solar energy.
Being more flexible and dispatchable, while not increasing the thermal damage of the equipment is a real challenge for plant managers.
Thank you very much to IREN, Cariplo Factory and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and all the people involved in this journey, among others, Chiara Firmani Daniel Sáenz Santamaría Paola Luisa Bassani Giovanni Bugnotto Loris Lattuada Christopher El Khoury DANIELE ACCARDI
Original news: IREN’s announcement in Italian