Within the framework of 4YFN – the startup event of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, ACCIONA took part in the Reverse Pitch organized by ICEX and Area101, where it officially presented the 16 open innovation challenges of its I’MNOVATION 2024 program.

The Reverse Pitch, designed to flip the traditional format — with large corporations presenting their challenges to startups and scaleups — gave ACCIONA the opportunity to showcase, first-hand, collaboration opportunities across the key business areas in which it operates.

The I’MNOVATION 2024 challenges by sector include:

  • TRANSPORTATION
    • Real-time monitoring of cutter wear in tunnel boring machines (TBMs)
    • New geological recognition techniques for TBMs
    • New ground improvement treatment techniques for tunneling
    • Real-time mapping of physical parameters of soil sections and road pavements using indirect methods
    • Road monitoring systems
  • WATER
    • Development of systems to measure and certify the water footprint
    • Monitoring systems for irrigation communities
    • Hydrogen production in wastewater treatment plants
  • CITIES
    • Digital visualization of infrastructures to optimize and expand their functional capacities
  • REAL ESTATE
    • Tool to maximize the performance of real estate projects
  • ENERGY
    • Risk assessment of climate change impact on renewable generation
    • Inspection of wind turbine blades in motion
    • Ultra-short-term (nowcasting) production forecasting for photovoltaic plants
    • Design and optimization of evacuation systems for offshore wind farms
    • Optimization of energy efficiency in industrial HVAC systems
  • FINANCIAL SERVICES
    • Natural Language Processing solutions to improve investor satisfaction and service quality

Since 2017, ACCIONA’s I’MNOVATION program has developed 56 pilot projects with startups, 30% of which have resulted in commercial agreements. For the 2024 edition, selected companies are offered up to €50,000 to develop pilots in a real environment along with a 6-month program supported by technical and business experts.

With this participation, ACCIONA reaffirms its commitment to open innovation and the co-creation of solutions that accelerate the transition toward a more sustainable model, while strengthening Spain’s position as a benchmark hub for technological innovation in infrastructure, energy, and water.