RINA Call 4 Startup 2025

Drones, robots, IoT sensors, AI, and augmented reality are reshaping the way we supervise, inspect, and maintain critical assets. From real-time monitoring to predictive maintenance, the future lies in solutions that are smarter, more autonomous, and built to scale, ensuring safety, efficiency, and sustainability.  

RINA is not only a leader in its field, but also a catalyst for progress, committed to fostering innovation and driving meaningful transformation. In this context, RINA launched the first edition of the “Call4Startup” contest in 2025 as a key Open Innovation initiative. 

The program was designed to co-create innovative and scalable solutions with startups and technology pioneers, accelerating the digital transformation of asset integrity, inspection, and maintenance across industries. The initiative was supported by Zest, Italy’s leading innovation platform, which drives early-stage investments, startup acceleration, and corporate innovation. The initiative marks an important step in RINA’s ongoing commitment to open innovation and collaboration with the startup ecosystem. 

What we were looking for: 

We were looking for innovative solutions that could:  

• Operate effectively in complex and hostile environments (e.g. offshore sites, energy plants, confined spaces, remote areas).  
• Enable continuous monitoring and predictive maintenance.
• Improve operational autonomy, data efficiency, and operator safety. 
• Integrate into digital workflows and comply with cybersecurity and interoperability standards.  

Selected startups

• Suncubes
• Therness
• Pipein 

Ongoing steps

• PoC design: in this phase of the collaboration, the scope, objectives, and roadmap are defined, and project teams are brought together to ensure a smooth and effective start to the Proof of Concept. 
• PoC development: in this phase, the PoC is implemented and tested, data is gathered and analyzed, and a final demo is conducted to evaluate results and provide recommendations.