Deadline: October 17, 2025
RINA and Zest have launched an innovation challenge in Italy seeking startups and SMEs worldwide to develop advanced autonomous solutions for monitoring, inspection, and maintenance, aiming to enhance safety, scalability, and efficiency in complex environments.
Drone, robot, IoT sensor, AI, and augmented reality technologies are transforming supervision, inspection, and maintenance by enabling safer, more autonomous, and scalable solutions.
The focus is on operating in complex and hostile environments (offshore, energy plants, confined spaces, remote areas), enabling continuous monitoring and predictive maintenance, improving operational autonomy, data efficiency, and operator safety, and integrating into digital flows and complying with cybersecurity and interoperability standards.
This opportunity invites early-stage and scale-up startups as well as innovative SMEs that are legally registered in any country to apply. The challenge highlights issues such as limited autonomy of devices in critical and remote environments requiring many operators and units, systemic vulnerabilities with exposure to interference, cyber-attacks, and malfunctions, and data complexity arising from the difficulty of integrating, synchronizing, and interpreting huge amounts of data like images, videos, and operating parameters in real time.
Winners of this innovation challenge will be awarded €20,000, including €10,000 in immediate financial support to accelerate the innovation journey and €10,000 worth of specialist support and consultancy services provided by RINA. Selected startups not only gain financial backing but also access to tailored expert guidance.
The initiative is organized by RINA, which is working to become a global leader in innovation under its 2030 Strategic Plan, and Zest, Italy’s leading innovation platform with more than 20 years of experience in accelerating startups and driving investments.
For more information, visit RINA.
