Respect for the hospitality sector

That Trentino offers a favourable context for innovative companies is also demonstrated by cases such as that of 4Mainds, a start-up recently founded in Rovereto, in Progetto Manifattura, which offers a solution for energy savings in buildings in the hospitality sector. This is not the first startup for its co-founder and chief innovation officer Claudio Peroni, an electronics engineer who already in 2017, again in Rovereto, had founded Energenius, now part of the Parma-based Maps Group. "There are very interesting players in Trentino," he says. "In my experience, in particular, the University of Trento and Fbk are exceptional partners in r&s projects, because they confer skills that a company struggles to have on its own. They have been key to the success of previous initiatives and I am sure they will be again this time, so much so that talking to them was among the first things we did when we launched 4Mainds'. Peroni and his two partners are in fact collaborating with Fbk researchers on the machine learning algorithms they use to analyse their customers' energy consumption data in detail. And, based on these painstaking analyses, they adjust the technical parameters that allow them to reduce consumption, always guaranteeing comfort and thermal well-being, which are fundamental for hospitality facilities, such as hotels and hostels, but also rest homes. All this translates into bill savings and greater sustainability. "Our solution is ready for the market, in fact we have already installed it in some hotels, and it is in continuous development," says Peroni. "We estimate that just by better regulating the systems we can reduce consumption by 15-20%." There is no need for large investments or invasive work. On the contrary, Peroni emphasises, "we install our solution in electrical panels or thermal rooms, at the most you have to disconnect the power for a few minutes during the operation, nothing more". Thanks to its consumption monitoring and analysis tools, however, 4Mainds is also able to offer another service. "For those who want to invest in their heating system, we can advise them on how to go about it. Photovoltaics or insulation, for example, may work well for some structures, less so for others, every situation is different," explains Peroni. The answers, in short, lie in the data.