SMAU Milan: final stage of the 2025 International Roadshow

Oltre 180 startup per due giorni ricchi di eventi, con importanti riconoscimenti per Intesa Sanpaolo, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, startup e Corporate

The international stages of the SMAU 2025 Roadshow—of which Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center was once again a partner—concluded with the final event in Milan on 5–6 November. The SMAU stages aim to connect the Italian innovation ecosystem with major global hubs, fostering new collaborations, encouraging dialogue with key industry players, and supporting the growth of Italian companies.

After the appointments in London, Paris, and Stockholm, Milan welcomed over 180 startups across two days. They presented their solutions to corporates, investors, and institutions, supported by more than 200 thematic Startup Safaris dedicated to matching innovation supply and demand. Over these two days filled with initiatives, more than 50 workshops were delivered as part of the SMAU Academy, led by industry leaders and young talents who explored emerging frontiers in AI, digitalization, sustainability, and open innovation.

Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center in the Spotlight

At SMAU Milan, Innovation Center hosted a dedicated stand for meetings with startups and ecosystem players, as well as a matching area where its startups—Beaconforce, Flowtech, and Joule—were able to present themselves to potential investors, companies, and innovation stakeholders.

Innovation Center, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo, also took part in several highly engaging roundtables on timely topics: “From Words to Action: ESG and Sustainability Between Real Experiences and Future Challenges” and “Open Innovation in the Energy Transition: Experiences and Perspectives.”

What’s New at SMAU Milan 2025

This year’s edition introduced two new experiential formats for guests, enabling Innovation Center to build valuable synergies with other Group structures and further promote the open innovation paradigm.

Startup Safari, an exploration path designed around companies’ needs to closely engage with startup innovations. Thanks to the Innovation Center’s Safari, representatives from Corporate Investment Banking and innovation specialists from Intesa Sanpaolo’s Banca dei Territori were able to explore the solutions of more than 10 startups selected among the 180 innovative companies present at SMAU Milan, focusing on topics most relevant to business growth.

Inspiring Session, a pitching session featuring a selection of participating startups. The Inspiring Session organized by Innovation Center offered representatives from Corporate Investment Banking and innovation specialists from Banca dei Territori the chance to gain insights into the value of open innovation and startups as potential partners for bringing innovation to market and fostering a culture of innovation.

SMAU 2025 Innovation Awards

During the Milan stage, SMAU presented its Innovation Awards to several organizations—selected among more than 50 candidates—for the initiatives and projects they have developed in recent years in the field of innovation.

One award went to Intesa Sanpaolo for a project developed in collaboration with SkillGym. Intesa Sanpaolo introduced SkillGym’s Digital Role Play platform into its managerial assessment and development processes. Launched in 2019, the project has evolved over time. The platform uses adaptive simulations to reproduce managerial conversations in an online environment. The introduction of Digital Role Play has generated concrete benefits for both participants and the company: employees find the experience more engaging, stimulating, and innovative compared to traditional assessments, while assessors gain additional data supporting their evaluations.

Alpitour World, a client of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and part of its Corporate Innovation Network, was also awarded for its commitment to innovation dissemination. “Conversations with Innovation” is the format launched by Alpitour World to foster an innovation culture within the company and strengthen ties with the broader ecosystem. The initiative features periodic discussions with partners, startups, universities, and other innovation stakeholders, during which employees engage in open dialogue on technological trends, new business models, and emerging challenges in the travel sector. The initiative was developed within AInfinity, Alpitour World’s new Corporate Innovation unit established in January 2025 to structure and continuously manage corporate innovation.

A Global Outlook on Innovation

Internationalization, strategic partnerships, open innovation, and cross-sector collaboration—more than ever, innovators need to be part of an ecosystem that fosters connections, inspiration, and new opportunities. This is why Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center is a member of the SMAU Innovation Club. By meeting companies, startups, investors, and institutions across the various stages of the roadshow, it works to create new synergies and business generation and fundraising opportunities for the startups in its network.