Stefano Melchior (Udine, Italy, 1973), an industrial engineer with an MBA and Executive Master in Business Analytics from ESADE, is the CEO of BeChained, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to save energy costs and reduce the carbon footprint in industry.

“I am passionate about technology, especially technology that solves specific problems such as the climate crisis. In my spare time, I like to read and play sports (as a curiosity, I played basketball for 30 years).”

TB: What is the purpose of your project?

SM: We want to avoid 65 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2040. To achieve this goal, we help energy-intensive consumers to avoid recurring inefficiencies in their production processes, i.e. to avoid unnecessary consumption. This enables them to save costs and emissions.

TB: A good idea you have had.

SM: Setting up a startup with an impactful purpose that can help others. I am passionate about it and it allows me to enjoy my work.

TB: A bad professional experience.

SM: Many years ago I had an argument with a friend with whom I shared a professional experience. In the end, we decided to go our separate ways: I realised that his change of character had made him toxic to the project and that we were incompatible.

TB: A professional reference that inspires you.

SM: Steve Jobs, a person with a charisma and vision 20 years ahead of his time.

TB: A technology that will shape the future.

SM: Nuclear fusion will provide clean energy in unimaginable quantities and on a small scale, with micro reactors.

TB: What are you worried about?

SM: I am concerned about the insensitivity of the political and business world to the climate drift to which we are leading the planet. Short-term economic solutions are being promoted. It is a short-sighted policy.

TB: A start-up.

SM: I really like the Go Zero Waste project, an app that promotes the elimination of single-use plastics. And also Recircular, a marketplace for recycling waste… Because “waste does not exist”.

TB: A book to recommend.

SM: Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose” and Yuval Noah Harari’s “Homo deus”.

TB: A series or film or song that defines your moment in life.

SM: “Summertime” by Janis Joplin. It’s a timeless song, for all the beautiful seasons, like summer.

TB: A recipe, a meal, a restaurant.

SM: Salad with fresh tomatoes, green salad, cucumbers, cranberries and parmesan. I like it because it’s a fresh dish, and I like it both for lunch and dinner. And as a restaurant, I recommend “La tavernetta” in Udine.

TB: A city, a journey.

SM: I want to make a dream trip to Istanbul, the meeting point of Eastern and Western culture.

TB: Where would you invest 100k?

SM: In an education project, to promote reading. Because creating culture improves the world of tomorrow.

TB: And a million euros?

SM: In environmental education projects for young people and adults. We can all create sustainable consumption habits with minimal effort.

TB: If you were not an entrepreneur…

SM: I would like to have been a world traveller. Travelling, living outdoors and learning the best of other cultures.

TB: What is Tech Barcelona for you?

SM: It is the heart of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Barcelona. It has been the launching point for many success stories. And I love its policy of encouraging exchange to help colleagues (with a beer in hand).