San Francisco: the American stage of SMAU 2024

Innovation Center participates with 3 portfolio startups, immersed for four days in the Californian Innovation Ecosystem

The international stages of SMAU,  a recognized entity in the open innovation landscape, continue. The penultimate event of the year, SMAU San Francisco, took place from May 20 to 24, as part of the activities of the SMAU Open Innovation Club 2024 project. This project includes four stages throughout the year (London, Paris, San Francisco, and Milan) organized by the Italian enabler, with the aim of presenting and promoting the national innovation ecosystem internationally. Each stop involves startups, corporates, enablers, national and local public entities, and media.

Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center participated in the San Francisco stop with Stefano Bruzzi - Head of Innovation Network Development, and other specialists from the Startup Growth structure. The ultimate goal of these international tours is always to internationally enhance the Innovation Center and the innovative entities in its portfolio, meet actors from the Italian and local ecosystems, and scout for new startups.

In the case of San Francisco, 45 Italian startups participated, including 3 from the Innovation Center's portfolio: Matchplat, iGenius and Heero.

The central day of the tour took place at Innovit, providing the startups with a stand for technological showcasing and an opportunity to pitch on stage to present their innovative solutions. The participating startups each managed over 20 business meetings, expressing satisfaction with the opportunities opened up.

In the following days, the startups were accompanied to innovation hubs, in this case, the famous Silicon Valley, with the aim of offering innovative entities an overview of initiatives designed to attract and support new entrepreneurship. Venture capitals such as Plug&Play and 500 Global, open innovation platforms like Mind the Bridge, and various investment and soft landing programs in the USA were also presented, detailing activities and services for commercial, legal, and fiscal assistance.

Overall, the stage proved very useful for getting to know and creating connections with one of the richest and most evolved innovation ecosystems in the world.

See you at the 2024 appointment in Milan!