Terna's Tunisian Innovation Zone has moved from its institutional launch to an operational program, with startups, training and energy construction sites.

Mediterranean energy isn't built solely with submarine cables. It requires expertise, companies capable of experimenting with application solutions, universities, network operators, and institutions capable of working over long timescales. It is within this trajectory that the Terna Innovation Zone Tunis, the first African hub of the Italian transmission network operator, created to accompany the evolution of the Tunisian electricity system and strengthen the technological connection with theItaly.

The project is no longer just an industrial diplomacy initiative. Its relevance emerges better when viewed alongside Elmed, the high voltage direct current interconnection promoted by Terna e STEG, the Tunisian electricity and gas grid operator. The connection between Sicily and Tunisia will unite two previously separate electricity systems, enabling bidirectional energy exchanges and better integration of renewable sources. The Innovation Zone focuses on the less visible complement to the infrastructure: the technical, entrepreneurial, and organizational capital required for a large-scale grid project to have an impact on the local economy.

The hub's Tunisian location, shared with the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian-Tunisian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, signals a clear choice. Not just a corporate hub, but a hub for specialized training, open innovation, universities, and bilateral economic relations. Terna's materials list among its objectives courses for industry professionals, collaboration with local universities and the École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tunis, incubation programs, and access for selected startups to international networks of industrial partners.

Why a network operator looks at emerging companies

For a transmission system operator, working with startups may seem like a deviation from its core business. In reality, managing a contemporary electricity grid requires tools increasingly aligned with the fields in which many emerging companies operate: data analytics, sensors, load forecasting, predictive maintenance, energy efficiency, industrial software, environmental monitoring systems, and flexibility solutions. The electricity transition depends not only on new installed capacity, but also on the ability to manage variability, congestion, operational safety, and quality of service.

The Tunisian case makes this transition particularly clear. Tunisia aims to significantly increase the share of renewables in the electricity system, with a target of 35 percent of capacity by 2030. According to the US trade guidance updated in 2026, the country had about 787 megawatts of installed renewable capacity, including solar, wind, and hydroelectric. The gap between current capacity and medium-term targets isn't just a matter of facilities: it requires more robust networks, permits, investments, local expertise, and digital tools to manage distributed generation and consumption.

In this context, the Tunisian Innovation Zone plays a pivotal role. On the one hand, it brings Terna's experience in transmission grid management, the integration of non-programmable sources, and direct current infrastructure to the country. On the other, it offers local companies a channel for engaging with industrial requirements, foreign markets, and potential corporate clients. This dynamic differs from generic acceleration: the value lies not only in the pitch or selection process, but in the ability to verify whether a solution can be adopted in real, regulated, and technically complex contexts.

From calls to market tests for Tunisian startups

The first selection of the Global Scaleup Program involved over 50 startups and scaleupsThe five realities identified by Terna were Cumulus Water, NextAV, Kamioun, Be Wireless Solutions e asteroidTheir scope doesn't all coincide with the electricity grid in the strict sense, but rather touches on recurring issues in Mediterranean economies: water, mobility, logistics, connected systems, monitoring, and operational sustainability. It is precisely this transversality that makes the program interesting for industrial use.

The new edition has consolidated the model and expanded the selection pool. The startups chosen from over 60 applications are Amperon Technologies, Orbit Engineering Solutions, DeepVolt, ProVerdy e Pixii MotorsTheir profile depicts a less stereotypical technological Tunisia than often emerges in the European debate: industrial artificial intelligence, energy monitoring, electric mobility, environmental data, and platforms for optimizing consumption. These are fields where demand comes not only from grid operators, but also from manufacturing, logistics, utilities, construction, and urban services.

The Italian roadshow of the selected companies gave the program a more concrete dimension. Activities in Rome included training sessions, meetings with companies, business matching opportunities, and presentations to stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem. For a Tunisian startup, accessing a market like the Italian one doesn't simply mean visibility: it involves navigating technical standards, tax regulations, contractual models, purchasing procedures, and scalability expectations. These steps are often more selective than initial financing.

The presence of partners such as Mind the Bridge, ELIS e ecosystem It indicates a broader approach to the process. Terna acts not only as a sponsor, but also as an industrial entity capable of contributing needs, reputation, and a network of relationships. For startups, this can bridge the gap between prototype and market. For the Tunisian system, it can help retain expertise and attract targeted investments. The limit, of course, will be the ability to transform meetings and programs into pilot projects, contracts, and measurable technical validations.

Elmed as infrastructure and as demand for skills

The connection with Elmed It is the most industrially relevant point. The project includes a direct current electrical connection from 600 megawatts, around 220 kilometers, largely undersea, between western Sicily and the Tunisian peninsula of Cape Bon. The converter stations will be built in partanna, in the province of Trapani, and Mlaabi, in the Menzel Temime area. HVDC technology is the typical choice for long, submarine, or inter-system connections that require energy exchange with precise flow control.

The project has also entered a more mature phase in terms of the supply chain. Prysmian has received the operational go-ahead for the construction of the submarine interconnection, with a contract of approximately 460 million euro. Hitachi Energy was awarded the contract approximately 770 million euro for converter stations. These numbers place Elmed among large electrical engineering infrastructures, but at the same time they demonstrate the complex system of skills required to build and manage them.

An interconnection of this kind requires cables, converters, control systems, protection devices, continuous monitoring, specialized maintenance, and coordination capabilities between national operators. These elements create space for suppliers, research centers, and technology companies working on data, automation, efficiency, diagnostics, and security. Startups don't build the cables or the converter stations, but they can develop tools useful for industrial processes that revolve around smarter grids and more manageable consumption.

The issue is not just about exporting energy from North Africa to Europe, a narrative often oversimplified. A two-way connection can contribute to the security of electricity systems, the management of surpluses, the reduction of bottlenecks, and the integration of renewables on both sides. However, the benefits will depend on Tunisia's ability to develop new clean generation, its regulatory framework, the financial sustainability of investments, and the quality of cooperation between operators.

A testing ground for Mediterranean industrial policy

The Innovation Zone of Tunis is part of the Mattei plan, but its interest transcends the political dimension of the partnership. The project demonstrates how energy infrastructure is also becoming an instrument of industrial policy. Wherever a major network project arrives, the demand for technicians, engineers, software, maintenance services, environmental analysis, cybersecurity, data management, and new operational skills grows. The risk, if these elements are not developed locally, is that the value will remain concentrated in large international contracts alone.

From this perspective, the Tunisian program seeks to connect three levels: physical infrastructure, human capital training, and the integration of emerging companies into broader market networks. Collaboration with universities and local stakeholders is crucial because it prevents the hub from becoming a showcase for startups. The real test will be continuity: recurring paths, impact metrics, industrial use cases, contracts, skilled employment, and the ability of the selected companies to grow without losing their roots in the region.

For Italy, Tunisia represents a close partner, with a central geographic location and a production system that can interact with European value chains. For Tunisia, the relationship with Terna, STEG, and the Italian market can become a channel for industrial learning, as well as an opportunity for internationalization. The goal is not to replicate innovation models developed elsewhere, but to build solutions consistent with the needs of the Mediterranean: resilient networks, cleaner energy, resource efficiency, sustainable mobility, and marketable technical skills.

The assessment remains necessarily cautious. A hub alone cannot change an energy system, and a call for proposals is not enough to build a technological supply chain. But the combination of Elmed, programs for emerging businesses, and specialized training gives the Tunisian project greater substance than in the launch phase. The news today is no longer the opening of an innovation space in Tunis. It's the verification of its usefulness within an industrial transformation that involves electricity grids, local communities, and the ability to transform institutional cooperation into operational expertise.

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