Tech Europe Foundation, the new innovation hub in Milan

It is called Tech Europe Foundation (TEF) and is the non-profit foundation established in Milan promoted by the founding partners Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, Università Bocconi, ION and FSI. TEF’s goal is to create an ecosystem to foster collaboration between academic research, companies and start-ups, integrating entrepreneurial development with scientific innovation. The foundation aims to create an open environment where scientists, companies and start-ups can collaborate and grow together, helping to consolidate Milan as a centre of excellence for technological and entrepreneurial innovation.

The project is a virtuous example of public-private collaboration, with the aim of transforming Milan into one of Europe’s leading technology hubs. FET focuses on fundamental research and the creation of a critical mass of new companies in the deeptech sector, based on scientific discoveries and technological innovations in areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, microelectronics, aerospace and renewable energy.

TEF, whose president and vice-president for the next three years are Ferruccio Resta (Politecnico) and Alberto Grando (Bocconi) respectively, will make the most of the skills and laboratories of the two founding universities, and will operate along three main pillars: funding basic research, scouting and accompanying start-ups, and open innovation services for companies. The project will be based at the Parco dei Gasometri, in the Bovisa district of Milan, the subject of a major urban regeneration project designed by Renzo Piano, where one thousand start-ups will be hosted annually when fully operational. FET has an initial fund of more than EUR 100 million and has already started a fundraising campaign. The Milan Monza Brianza Lodi Chamber of Commerce has already contributed EUR 50 million, and the goal is to raise further funds to reach EUR 1 billion by 2030.

“The birth of TEF represents an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen Europe’s and Italy’s competitiveness in the global innovation scene,” Bocconi Rector Francesco Billari said in a note. “TEF will be a strategic platform for attracting talent and developing new technologies. Bocconi will contribute with its economic-financial, legal and entrepreneurship know-how, supporting the development of new skills and growth opportunities for young companies, and in computational sciences and artificial intelligence. FET will contribute to the development of Milan as a European capital of talent and innovation with a strong social and economic system impact’.

“The time is ripe for the Politecnico, more than twenty years after the birth of the business accelerator, to make the leap to an international dimension by hosting, at the new Bovisa campus, an important ecosystem for innovation: 34,000 square metres earmarked for FET to facilitate synergies between basic research, companies and local resources in a process of open innovation in the technology sphere that makes the city even more attractive to talent and investment -“. says Donatella Sciuto, Rector of the Politecnico di Milano – Spaces, laboratories and skills: the university provides a solid base for the growth of an ambitious project, on which we place great expectations in the development of entrepreneurship of both students and young entrepreneurs’.

“Supporting fundamental research, the start-up ecosystem and open innovation promotes a virtuous cycle that strengthens corporate competitiveness and stimulates innovation. Universities play a central role, providing advanced knowledge and specialised talent that help companies reduce development costs and accelerate innovation. By exploiting these discoveries, start-ups create competition, incentivising companies to invest in new technologies. Thanks to open innovation, an evolutionary process is established that benefits the entire economic system,’ adds Andrea Pignataro, Founder and CEO of ION.

“We thought of TEF as a long-term generational project that has the ambition to give birth to thousands of new technology start-ups to counteract the chronic demographic problem of Italian companies,” says Maurizio Tamagnini, CEO of FSI. “Our goal is to keep our young scientists/entrepreneurs in Italy to convert the many innovative ideas they produce into companies of tomorrow and allow Italy to maintain and strengthen its world leadership in industrial-family capitalism.

‘On the strength of the important results achieved in recent years as an attractive and competitive innovation ecosystem, Milan is ready to consolidate itself as a global technology hub, able to compete with the major international metropolises,’ says Carlo Sangalli, president of the Milan Monza Brianza Lodi Chamber of Commerce. TEF is the way to meet the challenge, and as Chamber of Commerce we are very proud to take part in this initiative. With our consolidated experience over the years in the promotion of an innovation paradigm accessible to all enterprises and in the valorisation policies for start-ups and innovative enterprises, we want to bring our contribution in the construction of a project that will further enhance the great heritage of talents, know-how, entrepreneurial spirit, virtuous contaminations, which have made our territory great”.

“The future of European innovation depends on the ability to invest in the talents of our young people and in their vision. The ultimate goal of the Tech Europe Foundation is to provide our country with an infrastructure capable of helping new generations of young men and women entrepreneurs who aspire to turn scientific research and technological innovation into business,’ adds Ferruccio Resta, President of the FET Foundation. Our goals are clear: one thousand start-ups hosted annually and one billion euro to transform research and innovative ideas into technology companies. TEF is therefore an open and inclusive reality, a vibrant ecosystem, which today addresses those who want to believe in the future of Italy and feel the responsibility and passion to contribute, raising it to become a protagonist in technological innovation”. (photo by Pascal Bullan on Unsplash)

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