Can an acceleration program foster the development of Italian excellences? According to the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Fondazione CR Firenze, Nana Bianca e Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione dell’Università di Firenze, the answer is yes, without a doubt.

With this optimistic spirit and attentive to the territory, the new acceleration program for startups 'Italian Lifestyle' was launched on 4 October with a press conference held at the Granaio dell'Abbondanza. The program aims to bring together the large companies of the territory operating in the fashion, tourism and food sectors to startups offering innovative solutions and technologies.

Italian Lifestyle will be developed into 3 years and aims at the growth of the Florentine ecosystem, as also stated by Maurizio Montagnese, Chairman of the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center: 'The goal of programs such as 'Italian Lifestyle' is to encourage collaboration between large companies rooted in the area and new business ideas capable of contributing to the development and renewal of even more traditional businesses'.

 

On 22 september the new Startup Genome report about Torino, was launched at the London Tech Week.

Startup Genome is the world-leading innovation policy advisory and research firm, having advised the ecosystem development strategy and action plans for more than 40 governments in the last year. This year, thanks to Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and Compagnia di Sanpaolo, it analyzed the Turin scenario.

The report reviews the Turin ecosystem from different point of views: Smart Cities, AI, Big Data e Analytics, giving some strong reasons to move there.

As you can see in the report, local stakeholders are working hard to transform the city into a test-bed for cutting-edge technologies, particularly in the field of Smart Cities.

Intesa Sanpaolo Formazione, the training company of Intesa Sanpaolo, in collaboration with the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center organizes the online course of high management training 'Circular Economy: new business models' for the development and transformation of businesses in market scenarios in constant evolution. The training course of the Academy of Intesa Sanpaolo and Intesa Sanpaolo Formazione is designed to enhance skills and increase the competitive advantage of your company. Aimed at Entrepreneurs, Executives and managers belonging to all company areas, with particular reference to the strategic planning, commercial & marketing, logistics & operations, compliance & legal, ict & innovation and human resource areas, the Advanced Training Course is fully digital to respond to the contingency of the current historical period and to meet the logistical needs of participants from all over the country. During the online meetings, the students will find a dedicated learning environment, where they can experience a formative, engaging and interactive experience: the structure and the program have been defined by CeTIF-Università Cattolica, Intesa Sanpaolo Formazione and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center in collaboration with experts from the Circular Economy Lab of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center.

The program is intensive and lasts 5 weeks.

The first half of 2021 of the Venture Capital Monitor – VeM, research report on venture capital operations in Italy, was presented during the press conference on 19 July. The study was carried out by the Venture Capital Monitor - VeM Observatory active at Liuc Business School and realized thanks to the contribution of the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and E. Morace & Co. law firm and the institutional support of CDP Venture Capital SGR and IBAN, with the goal of developing permanent monitoring of the institutional early stage activity carried out in our country. In the first half of 2021, 100 transactions were realized in Italian startups for an amount equal to almost 400 million euros, a fact which demonstrates the liveliness of venture capital and the resilience of our country. ”For our part, the activities of acceleration, investment with Neva SGR and financial support for startups have neither stopped nor slowed down and have contributed to achieving this result”- says Maurizio Montagnese, Chairman of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center.

The AI Seminar | Fairness in Neural Networks, held in Italian by Mattia Cerrato - Researcher at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz is part of a series of events organized by the Artificial Intelligence Lab of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center that aim to illustrate and disseminate the evolution of research conducted in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

The seminar, curated by Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, is scheduled by remote connection on Friday May 7th at 12.00-13.00. The seminar will be held in Italian.

This seminar will discuss new approaches and methodologies developed to link neural network training to fairer behavior. We will see how to ensure that the 'hidden' representation learned from neural networks is invariant with respect to some selected attributes and we will illustrate two ways to improve the explainability of these models without compromising their equity.

Click here to join the seminar

The Venture Capital Monitor, a complete annual report that captures the situation of investments in innovation in our country, was presented during the press conference on 25 February. The study demonstrates how venture capital is a real boost to development and how, despite the difficult period, it is constantly growing with the birth of new players and new ecosystems.

The report analyzes the results of venture capital investments with an updated mapping of the data and, compared to previous years, adds an in-depht analysis of Business Angels and the early stage market.

The Venture Capital Monitor was drawn up by AIFI (Italian Association of Private Equity, Venture Capital and Private Debt) in collaboration with LIUC - Business School, and saw the support of the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and participation in the steering committee of Guido de Vecchi. As de Vecchi states “even in a very special year, we have continuously contributed to achieving the results reported by the VeM.“

The report Open Innovation in Italy - The key factors for the success of the innovation activity of an Italian company, prepared by COTEC - Fondazione per l'Innovazione, in collaboration with Enel Foundation and the Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli - LUISS, was presented on 24 February. This year the report was dedicated to open innovation, one of the most effective methods to bring innovation in companies and thus increase their profitability. The report analyzes in depth the state of open innovation in Italy and presents interesting stories of innovation.  Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center has contributed with the presentation of its Startup Initiative program, the Iren Startup Award case history and an editorial by Chairman Maurizio Montagnese, that talks about the mission and projects of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center.

The Circular Economy Lab has given its contribution to the latest Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s paper Universal circular economy policy goals: enabling the transition to scale, released on 28th January 2021. This report aims to create a common direction of travel in policy development for a faster transition to a circular economy and indicates five universal policy goals:

#1. Stimulate design
Enable all products to be designed, accessed, and used in ways that eliminate waste and pollution.
#2. Manage resources to preserve value
Promote the development of business models that keep products and materials in the economy at their highest possible value.
#3. Make the economics work
Create economic incentives and set regulatory requirements that enable circular economy solutions to become the norm.
#4. Invest in innovation, infrastructure and skills
Invest public money and stimulate private sector investment to develop the skills required to create circular economy opportunities.
#5. Collaborate for system change
Work across government departments, nationally and internationally to build policy alignment and durable change.

The launch event took place on the 2nd February and have seen the participation of Massimiano Tellini, Director Global Head of Circular Economy at Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center.

Techstars, Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, CRT Foundation and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center announced the 12 startups selected from hundreds from 4 continents and 54 countries around the world that, from 25th of January, have officially joined the Techstars Smart Mobility Accelerator 2021, the first startup acceleration program in Europe dedicated to Smart Mobility.

The program, for now all virtual, will last 13 weeks and will culminate on the Demo Day of 22 April 2021 with the presentation of the results to a wide audience of venture capitalists, business angels, investors, entrepreneurs and institutions.

Of the 12 startups selected by Techstars - leading global accelerator that has already supported over 2,300 new startups with 43 programs worldwide - 4 are Italian, 3 English, 2 Israeli, 1 American, 1 Portuguese and 1 Latvian: Blink, Cargofive, Crispify, Deliverart, Duet, eTEU, Imperium Drive, Kedeon, Latitudo 40, Prognostic, Trailze, and Wiseair. The range of industrial sectors covered by the proposals is very wide: supply chain, logistics, automotive, air quality, industry 4.0, micromobility, and satellite monitoring.

As stated by Maurizio Montagnese, “this year too, despite the limitations imposed by the health emergency, we expect that the excellent realities selected from all over the world will be able to grow and implement new projects in our country.”

2020 has been a year in which innovation and technology both offering solutions to international challenges such as Brexit and Covid-19.

The Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the UK, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, will host a virtual panel in which important representatives of the UK corporate, banking and innovation scene will take part; this will be followed by a pitch session dedicated to Italian technological companies capable of providing innovative solutions in response to the current international scenario.

The webinar will take place on December 16, 2020 at 10.00am GMT (11:00 am CET); the round table - moderated by G.M. Volpicelli, senior editor at Wired UK - will see the participation of IBM, Intesa Sanpaolo and London&Partners. Afterwards, the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center will introduce the pitch session dedicated to 4 Italian startups able to offer innovative technological solutions.

In times of pandemic, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center made its contribution with two important projects of its Laboratories.

The first, by the Neuroscience Lab, studied the impact on individuals and the community of the period we are experiencing, analyzing what happens in our brain in situations of anxiety and fear and trying to give precise indications to avoid situations of psychological suffering. This is the study called “COVID-19 Pandemic: the impact on socio-emotional well-being from a neuroscientific perspective”.

The Artificial Intelligence Lab, in collaboration with the epidemiology laboratory of the Sacco Hospital in Milan, has classified the genomic sequences of the virus collected in various hospitals, managing to quickly isolate around 1500 genomic sequences, identifying mutations and highlighting three different strains of the virus. An important step to learn more about the pandemic and to fight it, but also a beautiful example of public-private collaboration in research.

On November 12th, the public event of the Alleanza per l’Economia Circolare was held online. During the meeting the new Position Paper 2020 was presented, in the presence of the Deputy Minister for Economic Development Stefano Buffagni.

The Alleanza per l’Economia Circolare, of which Intesa Sanpaolo is also a member together with 17 other Italian companies, gathers and disseminates knowledge, involves people, associations, interest groups and addresses the government and Europe. The goal is to carry on the real circularity that aims to minimize the consumption in all its forms.

The Alleanza’s new Position Paper 2020 presents the road map towards a circular economic model: five objectives and 23 detailed actions aimed at making full use of the potential for economic, social, environmental and decarbonization development linked to the circular economy. A 7% increase in investment, a 10% reduction in raw material costs, as well as 700.000 new jobs in Europe by 2030 and a 56% drop in CO2 emissions by 2050.

The Position Paper 2020, composed of 16 sheets with projects and good practices that demonstrate the effectiveness of circularity and the concreteness of the commitment of all Alleanza members. It deepens their experiences focusing on: key value chains in the consumer goods, circular bioeconomy, chemistry and engineering, energy and utilities, finance, fashion and luxury, shipbuilding industry, catering and tourism sectors.

The event was also an opportunity to welcome the new member, Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane.

The main circular economy projects and the points of view of companies were also shared, told by CEOs and Presidents of some of the Alleanza companies. The event was an opportunity to discussion with representatives of the Government, in order to shed light on the evolution of policies for the circular economy and the next steps.

Cybermarkets, created by large merchants such as Amazon, Alibaba and even Walmart, although still closely linked to physical stores, are becoming spaces of economic activity. Their action, as great oligopolists, intersects planning, uses artificial intelligence and simulation, changes employment, changes the rules of the economy as a whole. We evaluate positive and negative aspects, considering all the elements, including the silent march of those operators towards finance. Pietro Terna, former professor of Economics in Turin and former Secretary of Confindustria Piemonte, will talk about it in the next appointment by the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center's Artificial Intelligence Lab, with the aim of illustrating the evolution of the research conducted in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

The seminar, by the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, is scheduled via Skype on 30 October from 11.00am to 12.30pm.

The world technology leader Cisco, Intesa Sanpaolo and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of projects dedicated to the circular economy, open innovation, especially in the field of Smart Mobility, cybersecurity and neuroscience applied to human resources.
For each area of ​​interaction, Cisco is committed to providing the enabling technologies and disseminating innovation with dedicated workshops and events, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center provides the know-how of the 3 Laboratories (Circular Economy, Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience), in addition to its startup network and Intesa Sanpaolo offers financial instruments and the support of its chief officers. A very important strategic agreement, a concrete help to Italian companies that want to adopt innovative processes to give a new energy to the growth of the country.

The Circular Economy is a crucial challenge to create not only different production models, but also a new culture that places sustainability and shared growth at the center, even more now, if we want to be resilient in this particularly uncertain period. These are the premises that on 9 and 10 September animated the 2020 summit of the Ellen McArthur Foundation, one of the main players worldwide in the field of Circular Economy, of which Intesa Sanpaolo has been a Strategic Global Partner since 2015. During the event, many protagonists of the circular evolution in politics, civil society, economy and the most varied industries spoke on the virtual stage. Many experiences have been shared from the most diverse and distant territories and in the most disparate industrial sectors. Company managers, university professors and researchers, politicians, designers, and even very young students were interviewed. You can review the speeches from the summit here: https://www.youtube.com/
user/made2.
On the occasion of the summit, the new report - Financing the Circular Economy - Capturing the opportunity was also presented.
The report is endorsed by over 30 CEOs and senior executives from leading asset managers and banks representing over USD 18 trillion in assets under management, including Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, BlackRock.
It offers new analysis that highlights rapid growth in circular economy financing and investment, lays out the opportunities for investing, banking, and insurance, and calls on the financial sector to seize the full potential by scaling the circular economy in collaboration with governments and corporates.

Online workshop on Cybersecurity & AI
Wednesday September 16th, at 10:30
To register write to: artific_intellig_lab.58036@intesasanpaolo.com

20 July sees the kickoff of the new edition of Techstars Smart Mobility Accelerator, the first acceleration program dedicated to Smart Mobility technologies, arising from collaboration between Techstars, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione CRT. Once again this year focus will be on the search for innovative services and solutions regarding the circulation of people, goods and data, in the context of Smart Cities, Smart Infrastructures and Smart Environments.
The last edition was a great success: hundreds of startups from all over the world submitted their applications, 11 finalists participated in the acceleration program, of which 5 started trials with the city of Turin and an Intesa Sanpaolo Group Corporate Client . The strategic importance of the project is also confirmed as underlying Turin’s role as an international ecosystem for innovation.
Applications will be open until 11 October 2020, the program will be held from 25 January to 22 April 2021.
Information and applications here:
https://www.techstars.com/programs/smart-mobility-program

The first class has taken place in the Techstars Smart Mobility Program, born of the partnership of Techstars, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione CRT. For 13 weeks 11 international startups took part in an acceleration process, sharing ideas with representatives from the Turin City council, the Foundations and partner companies. On 23 April, in the course of the virtual Demo day organized by OGR Tech, the participants presented their final pitches to an audience of investors, companies and institutions. The event saw the presentation of the new Innovation Trend Report dedicated to Smart Mobility, drawn up by Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center.

To download an extract of the Report click here. To request the complete Report write to us, with the wording “Innovation Trend Report Smart Mobility” in the subject line and including in the body of the e-mail company name, name and surname of the company contact person and company telephone number(s) and e-mail address.

Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, the Neuroscience laboratory and the Lombardy Museum Complex-National Museum of Da Vinci's Last Supper have together produced an innovative project for the application of neuroscience to art. The aim of the experimentation has been to examine the dimension of user experience of two works of art – Da Vinci's Last Supper and Donato da Montorfano's Crucifixion - in the Museum of Da Vinci's Last Supper and of the circuit that leads to them, as well as understanding how the current display methods for mural paintings, such as lighting, information panels and type of circuit can positively or negatively influence the quality of the visit.

On Monday 17 February at the OGR in Turin the Venture Up Forum was held, organized by AIFI, in collaboration with Compagnia of San Paolo, Fondazione CRT, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center. The event featured the main figures from the institutional, academic, financial, entrepreneurial and innovational worlds. The occasion brought together Italian and European institutions, venture capital funds, business angels, companies and startups with the aim of studying issues linked to the European market, establishing connections among the main innovation hubs and launching ideas for the development of venture capital. Get more details and view a recording of the morning's live stream.

On 27 January, at OGR Turin, the first of the three acceleration programs for Smart Mobility born of the partnership among Techstars, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione CRT was initiated. The initiative involved 12 startups, from Italy and beyond, that have been able to develop, test and implement new technologies in keeping with the principles of the Circular Economy, and to thus become sustainable and competitive enterprises. A 13-week program, a European exclusive, closely related to the fabric of the local businesses and involving over 100 mentors.