MADRID, 20 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Renfe has awarded the new contract for its Trenlab startup accelerator to Innova Next (Barrabés) after having managed the project together with Wayra, Telefónica’s open innovation hub, in the four previous editions.
Barrabés has prevailed over four other accelerator proposals in the tender with an offer of 1.6 million euros. Renfe has not revealed the identity of the other four bidders and Wayra has declined to comment.
However, Renfe sources have clarified to Europa Press that the accelerator will continue to operate as it has done so far with the new partner. For this, the contract on which there is still room for appeal must be formalized.
Barrabés manages other projects with public involvement such as Madrid in Motion, the open mobility ‘hub’ in Madrid, the Vicálvaro industrial factory and has also partnered with The Valley to provide technological training to the unemployed through a program financed by the Executive .
Among his duties as a successful bidder is managing a communication plan, the project website, advice for Renfe, the preparation of activities on the program and the provision of a physical space for its development.
Renfe has already financed 12 ‘startups’ that have generated 121 jobs and have developed two pilot projects with the firm with more than 16.5 million euros.
In each edition, the public company selects up to six ‘startups’ to which it offers contracts of up to one million euros to develop projects together with the railway company.
Thus, in its latest edition, Renfe selected Greemko, a specialist in environmental management for companies, in its sustainability challenge and All Read, a company specialized in automatic code detection software to digitize freight transport, Limmat, for maintenance at through more efficient technological solutions, and Visualfy, specialized in accessibility.
The company announced last May that it intended to invest and take part of the capital of one of these ‘startups’, but so far it has not been revealed if it has made the investment.
