Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program

Startups to innovate the field of Made in Italy

Italian Lifestyle is the acceleration program dedicated to scouting innovative startups and SMEs that offer digital solutions and enabling technologies for the tourism, fashion, and food industries, conceived and promoted jointly by Nana Bianca together with Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Fondazione CR Firenze, and Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione.

What is the Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program

The Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program is an acceleration program designed to support the growth of innovative startups and SMEs operating in the iconic Made in Italy sectors: fashion, design, food & beverage, and tourism.

The program aims to promote innovation and digitalization, fostering the integration of advanced technologies and sustainable models within Italian production value chains. The initiative is embedded in the Florentine ecosystem, a dynamic environment that combines tradition and innovation, creating opportunities for collaboration among companies, research centers, and investors, with the goal of enhancing Made in Italy and strengthening the competitiveness of Italian excellence in global markets.

The partnership between Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and Italian Lifestyle

The program stems from the collaboration among Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Fondazione CR Firenze, Nana Bianca, and the Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione of the University of Florence. This strategic partnership is grounded in a shared vision: strengthening innovative entrepreneurship and generating value for the territory, by fostering new opportunities for the startup ecosystem. The combination of financial, technological, and networking capabilities helps create a fertile environment for developing solutions that enhance Made in Italy in a contemporary way.

Selection criteria and technology areas of interest

The program is looking for innovative startups and SMEs, research groups, and university spin-offs proposing digital solutions in the strategic sectors of tourism, fashion, and food & beverage, with particular attention to ventures with scalable business models, strong technological content, and the ability to innovate processes or products.

The selection criteria primarily assess the innovativeness of the proposed technological solution, its practical applicability to the target sectors, the growth potential of the entrepreneurial project, and the team’s ability to develop and bring its idea to market.

Among the technology areas of greatest interest are:

Artificial Intelligence and Big Data
Blockchain and Cybersecurity
Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR)
IoT and 5G
Circular economy and sustainability solution

These technologies are considered cross-cutting and applicable to the Italian lifestyle industries, with the aim of combining tradition and innovation.

How the Italian Lifestyle acceleration program works

The acceleration program spans around 12 weeks and offers selected startups:

Phase 1

Mentorship

Personalized mentorship with product and market experts

Demo Day Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program

Phase 2

Workshop

Thematic workshops on innovation, business development, and fundraising

Phase 3

Networking

Networking sessions with corporates and investors

Phase 4

Strategic support

Strategic support and digital services

Phase 5

Demo Day

Final Demo Day, an opportunity to present projects to a qualified audience

Access takes place through dedicated calls. Submissions are evaluated on the basis of innovation, market potential, and strategic fit with target sectors. The program ensures visibility, collaboration opportunities, and a partner ecosystem that supports growth and internationalization.

2025 Edition of the Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program

In 2025, the Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program confirmed its benchmark role for innovation in the fashion, food & beverage, and tourism sectors, thanks to the renewal of the agreement among the institutional partners — Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Fondazione CR Firenze, Nana Bianca, and Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione of the University of Florence — and the launch of the fourth edition.

The call4startup, opened in January, selected 6 startups and university spin-offs with high-impact technological solutions, including AI, VR/AR, Big Data, IoT, Blockchain, and Cybersecurity, with a particular focus on sustainability and the circular economy.

The program, hosted in Nana Bianca’s spaces in Florence, includes 12 weeks of acceleration, mentorship, workshops, and networking, as well as a €20,000 grant for each startup. Alongside the long-standing partners, the Corporate Partners network has expanded with new players such as Bauli, Iren, Alpitour World, and Terna, complementing well-established companies including Gucci, Sanpellegrino, Starhotels, Colorobbia, and Cisco.

The startups selected for the 2025 edition of the Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program

ALOE: the management software for hospitality operators that enables them to offer and manage local experiences for guests

BIOTITAN: nanotechnology solutions to treat indoor and outdoor coatings

BIOVA PROJECT: an upcycling and circular economy project that produces beers, beverages, and snacks from unsold bread waste or other cereals

ELEMENTAG: a nanoparticle-based marker that fuses with any material or product to make it traceable and authenticable and to counter counterfeiting

KNITRONIC: a company producing flexible textile sensors to monitor large surfaces

WHY ONLY WHITE: augmented reality solutions to reduce the physical production of prototypes

Interview - Demo Day 2025 edition

ALOE

Julia Zheng - CEO & Co-Founder

BIOTITAN

Beatrice Iaia - CEO & Founder

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BIOVA PROJECT

Emanuela Barbano - CEO & President

WHY ONLY WHITE

Federico Morosi - CEO & Co-Founder

KNITRONIX

Riccardo Marchesi - CEO

Previous editions of the Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program

Highlights of past editions

2024 - Third edition

The third edition of the Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program received 140 applications, confirming strong interest in the program dedicated to innovation in the fashion, tourism, and food & beverage sectors.

Six startups — Baqta, Climate Standard, MeetAlpha, Fody, Albicchiere, and Proxima Robotics — were selected for the 12-week program hosted at the Granaio dell’Abbondanza in Florence, officially presented during the Kick-off Day. On that occasion, startups and program partners took the stage at Fondazione CR Firenze, including Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center with Luca Pagetti, Head of Startup Financing and Growth and Alessandro Balboni, Head of Innovation Business Development, who stated: “Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center supports the Group in building innovation ecosystems for the development of new entrepreneurship and for strengthening, in an innovative and sustainable way, companies that are already established, facilitating interaction among the different actors in the ecosystem. Italian Lifestyle is a virtuous example of how open innovation can concretely bring value to the territory, and we are pleased to inaugurate this third year of the program, characterized by an even greater number of local startups, which we expect will be particularly satisfying for the entire stakeholder network.”

The edition concluded with the Demo Day, the final event where startups presented their projects to partners, corporates, and investors, confirming the value of the open innovation model promoted by the program.

2023 - Second edition

The second edition of the Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program, launched in March 2023, concluded with the Demo Day, after 12 weeks of acceleration dedicated to six startups — Lab-go, Quiroom, PopulaRise, Agrobit, HealthyFood, and Cyber Evolution — selected through the call4startup and presented during the Kick-off Day. The edition confirmed the value of Italian Lifestyle as an engine of innovation for Made in Italy, generating €2.2 million in capital raised and 34 collaborations activated between startups and corporate partners, demonstrating an open innovation model capable of delivering tangible impact in the territory.

2022 - First edition

The first edition of the Italian Lifestyle Acceleration Program started on 15 March 2022 and concluded on 28 June 2022 with the Demo Day. The program saw the participation of 6 startups — Rifò, Blaster Foundry, Calton, Dotzero, Dresso, and Italia Rimborso — selected from more than 200 applications, operating in the food & wine, fashion, and tourism sectors. The initiative involved 8 corporate partners — including Gucci, Pitti Immagine, Alpitour, Starhotels, Ruffino, Cisco, and Colorobbia — and confirmed the value of the open innovation model by fostering networking and collaborations between companies and innovative startups.