From Smart Waste to AI Governance. Practical Innovation at Dublin Tech Summit 2026

Italian and Irish startups showcase innovative approaches to waste management and AI governance

Dublin Tech Summit brought together startups, investors, corporates and policymakers from across Europe and beyond. While AI remained the dominant theme, some of the most interesting exhibitors were applying technology to practical business and environmental challenges.

Irish Tech News was on the ground interviewing founders, recording podcast interviews and reporting from the exhibition floor. Among those were representatives of Italian startup Ganiga and Dublin-based Montro, two companies addressing very different challenges but with a common goal: helping organisations make better decisions through better data.

Turning Waste into Data, Dublin Tech Summit

Founded in Pisa in 2021, Ganiga is using AI, robotics and IoT to improve how organisations manage waste.

“We try to combine AI, robotics and IoT to enhance waste management, transforming waste into data and then all the data into value,” said Vincenzo Degiacomo, Engineer and Head of Product at Ganiga.

The company has developed intelligent waste collection systems that automatically identify and sort materials, reducing contamination and improving recycling rates. Rather than simply collecting rubbish, the system identifies materials, captures operational data and provides organisations with valuable insights into waste streams and recycling performance.

The systems are already deployed across major Italian airports including Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate, Pisa, Florence and Venice, as well as shopping centres and corporate facilities. Ganiga’s Hoooly! smart waste collection system is already deployed in the LinkedIn Dublin office.

During the interview, I suggested that the technology could also have applications in Dublin city centre, where improving waste segregation remains an ongoing challenge for Dublin City Council. Degiacomo agreed that the platform could be adapted to a wide range of public environments.

Dario Carmassi, Marketing and Communication Specialist at Ganiga, explained that airports have become one of the company’s principal markets, where high passenger volumes create significant waste management and recycling challenges while operators are under increasing pressure to improve sustainability reporting.

The company is now looking beyond traditional waste management.

“Now we are developing the same technology concerning food waste. Recognition, detection, quantification and insights for kitchens, catering and hospitality on how to save food,” said Degiacomo.

As organisations face increasing pressure to improve sustainability performance, Ganiga believes waste data can become a valuable management tool rather than simply a disposal problem.

Ganiga formed part of the Italian Trade Agency’s delegation of 14 innovative startups at Dublin Tech Summit, showcasing the breadth of Italy’s innovation ecosystem.

Helping Businesses Understand Their AI Risk

While Ganiga focuses on physical waste, Dublin startup Montro is tackling a different organisational challenge: understanding what software and AI tools employees are actually using.

The rapid adoption of AI has created a new governance challenge for many organisations, with employees increasingly using AI and SaaS applications that IT, security and compliance teams may know little about.

Founded by Namita Razdan and Ankur Arora, Montro has developed a SaaS governance and AI intelligence platform designed to help organisations navigate growing regulatory requirements including GDPR, DORA, NIS2 and the EU AI Act.

Razdan’s background in compliance and risk management within banking and consulting helped shape the idea.

“Every organisation we speak to has an AI policy. Still, most of them can’t clearly tell what AI is actually running across their business beyond ChatGPT or Copilot. That gap, between what leadership believes is governed and what is actually deployed, is where the regulatory exposure lives.”

The company believes many organisations have policies governing AI use, but lack visibility into what employees are actually deploying across the business.

At Dublin Tech Summit, Montro launched AIGRI, the EU AI Governance Readiness Index, a free self-assessment framework designed to help organisations benchmark their readiness across multiple European regulatory frameworks.

The platform’s discovery capabilities connect with systems including Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace to identify software and AI tools being used across an organisation and assess potential compliance risks.

Razdan believes AI governance has quickly become everyone’s priority, but nobody is entirely sure who owns the responsibility.

“Everybody wants it. But nobody knows under whose purview it falls.”

Montro is currently working with its first paying customer while expanding its market presence, having completed the NDRC accelerator and Local Enterprise Office programmes.

Solving Practical Problems

Although operating in very different sectors, Ganiga and Montro are responding to a similar challenge: helping organisations make better decisions through better information.

For Ganiga, that means understanding what organisations throw away and how resources can be managed more effectively. For Montro, it means helping businesses understand the growing number of software and AI tools operating within their organisations and the governance responsibilities that come with them.

At a summit dominated by AI, both companies demonstrated that some of the most valuable innovation lies in solving practical operational problems rather than simply building new technology.

Further information: Montro

Further information: Ganiga

About Billy Linehan

Billy Linehan is a freelance writer covering innovation, tech for good and entrepreneurship, and a regular contributor to Irish Tech News.

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