Start-ups & Emerging Technologies: hubs, policies and opportunities to boost vibrant local ecosystems in Italy and beyond
TIME
Thursday 22 September
11.00 – 12.30
ORGANISER
City of Torino, CTE NEXT project (www.ctenext.it ), in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.
LOCATION
Sala Fucine
DESCRIPTION
This panel explores the potential of emerging technologies enabled by 5G connectivity to boost vibrant local ecosystems for innovative start-ups and SMEs in Europe and beyond, starting from the leading example of the “Italian Emerging Technologies Support Programme”.
This Program was born with the objective of carrying out projects of experimentation, applied research and technology transfer, developed also in collaboration with local authorities, relating to emerging technologies, such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), connected to the development of new networks generation.
Within this context, in 2021 the City of Turin was selected together with other 5 Italian cities to host on its territory a “House of Emerging Technology” called CTE NEXT and thought as a diffused technology transfer hub on 5G enabled technologies in relevant local strategic sectors such as Smart Mobility, Urban Air Mobility, Industry 4.0 and Smart City Services.
The panel will catalyze the debate about how cities can be an actor in the innovation value-chain in the area of emerging technologies applied to urban challenges creating favorable environment for talents and innovative entrepreneurship and thus contributing to the co-design of “Future Urban Services”.
An opening keynote speech about the concept of “Start-up – Cities” will animate a comparative debate about city-led approaches for acceleration of start-ups and technology transfer towards SMEs in the area of emerging technologies by Turin and Rome Houses of Emerging Technologies, with a focus on the role of “Urban Testing”.
Turin’s approach will be represented both by the City authority and by a testimonial of the wider local partnership. Indeed, Intesa Sanpaolo innovation Center will elaborate about how a big bank can be a relevant innovation partner within the local innovation ecosystem also in the view of positioning Torino as a start-up friendly city at international level, for instance attracting international accelerators like Techstars.
Then the perspective will be opened up to explore different challenges and approaches of other EU and Extra-EU Cities, namely Riga, Rotterdam and Baltimora.
The panel will then be closed with the European Commission perspective about upcoming initiatives and funding of the “Connected Europe Facility – Digital” about 5G for Smart Communities in the current financial period 2021-2027.
AGENDA
11.00-11.05 Opening Greetings by Chiara Foglietta, Deputy Mayor for Environment, Digital and Ecological Transition, Mobility, Innovation
11.05-11.15 Keynote Start-up Cities: a new model for the cities of the future (10 mins) Nicola Farronato
11:15- Topic debate (Italy)
- The Italian approach: Turin and Rome Houses of Emerging Technologies in comparison ( 30 mins)
- Turin House of Emerging Technologies: Elena Deambrogio (City of Turin), Vincenzo Antonetti (Intesa SanPaolo Innovation Center)
- Rome House of Emerging Technologies: Alessandro Piperno and Paolo di Giamberardino (City of Rome)
11:45 – Topic debate (International) The international approach: Baltimore, Riga, Rotterdam (30 mins)
- Colin Tarbert, President & CEO at Baltimore Development Corporation
- Viesturs Celmins, RIGA City Council
- Jochem Cooiman, Digital Innovation Officer, City of Rotterdam
12:15 – Conclusions The European vision of the CEF 5G (15 min)
Eric Gaudillat (European Commission)
SPEAKERS
- Chiara Foglietta, Councillor for ecological transition
- Nicola Farronato, Smart city expert and Entrepreneur in residence for Techstars Cities of the future
- Vincenzo Antonetti, ISPIC
- Elena Deambrogio, CTE NEXT
- Colin Tarbert, President & CEO at Baltimore Development Corporation
- Alessandro Piperno, CTE Roma
- Viesturs Celmins, RIGA City Council
- Jochem Cooiman, Digital Innovation Officer, City of Rotterdam
- Eric Gaudillat, European Commission, (DG CONNECT, CEF 5G)
Moderator: Nicola Farronato
Alessandro Piperno
Program Director, CTE Roma
Alessandro Piperno
Program Director, CTE RomaAlessandro Piperno, is the Program Director of the CTE Roma. He is responsable for the coordination and management of all activities of the project, one of the first innovation spaces launched by Roma Capitale. He is also finalising his PhD in Management, in which he has carried out his research on entreprenurial actvities and their link with the city, managing the activities of an Horizon 2020 project. Alessandro is an expert on urban development and entrepreneurship, graduated at Bocconi university in Business Administration and with a Master in Urban Management and Development at Erasmus university. Before working for Roma Capitale, he has worked as a strategic consultant at Pwc developing Smart City projects in collaboration with the European Commision.
Colin Tarbert
President and CEO, Baltimore Development Corporation
Colin Tarbert
President and CEO, Baltimore Development CorporationColin Tarbert is the president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC), which serves as the economic development agency for Baltimore City, located in Maryland, USA in the Mid-Atlantic area of the East Coast. It is responsible for growing the city by retaining and attracting businesses, expanding job opportunities for city residents, and increasing investment in city neighbourhoods. Prior to his BDC appointment, Tarbert served in various leadership roles for nearly a decade at the Mayor’s Office of Baltimore City during three administrations, including the roles of Deputy Chief of Strategic Alliances and Deputy Mayor for Economic and Neighbourhood Development. In addition, Tarbert is active on numerous civic and non-profit boards. In 2013, Tarbert was named as a 40 under 40 honoree by the Baltimore Business Journal. Previous to the role of president & CEO and his tenure in the Mayor’s Office, Tarbert was a senior economic development officer for BDC. Tarbert graduated with a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Maryland, where he subsequently earned his Master of Architecture degree.
Nicola Farronato
CIO, Immodrone
Nicola Farronato
CIO, ImmodroneNicola Farronato is both a manager and entrepreneur who likes to build new innovative projects and ventures. He has extensive experience as an international business developer who has worked in several European cities such as Venice, London, Dublin, Paris, Turin. He practises and experiences entrepreneurship. He develops creative projects in the digital world and has a natural sense of transforming a mere idea into a fruitful business. Nicola founded B-sm@rk in Ireland, a high potential tech start-up; Back2Africa in Italy, a social entrepreneurship venture raising funds for Togo & Benin kids; and VCNY (Venice Chinese New Year) in Italy, a destination marketing project focusing on Chinese millennial travellers. He was Head of the innovation team for the City of Turin and acted as innovation manager for Torino City Lab. He is currently CIO at Immodrone, Italy's No.1 company for photo/video services and technical inspections with drones, and he is Entrepreneur In Residence at Techstars, the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. Nicola just enrolled as a Ph.D. student at the University of Turin with a focus on innovation for the circular economy.
Vincenzo Antonetti
Head of Network Development of Innovation, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center
Vincenzo Antonetti
Head of Network Development of Innovation, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation CenterVincenzo Antonetti graduated with honor in Economics from the University of Turin, he also has a master's degree in Banking & Finance at SDA Luigi Bocconi. With a strong banking experience, Vincenzo joined the Innovation Center of Intesa Sanpaolo in 2014. Previously Vincenzo has been involved in different fields spanning from Sales Department (Branch Manager) to pricing analysis (Senior Pricing Analyst) for the Italian Market, from Strategic Marketing Department to Customer Satisfaction and Market Research Division. With Responsibility of the Network Development of Innovation – at the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, he has the aim to support innovative projects of the Bank, creating new business opportunities for both national and international Company Customers, scouting new technologies and generating global collaborations in order to facilitate match-making and investment opportunities for corporates and startups.
Elena Deambrogio
Head of Innovation of CTE NEXT, the House of Emerging Technologies of Turin
Elena Deambrogio
Head of Innovation of CTE NEXT, the House of Emerging Technologies of TurinElena Deambrogio, with a background of studying and working in the field of EU Affairs in Brussels, Elena has been working for 20 years at the City of Turin, EU Funds and Innovation Department, in the field of sustainable urban development. Elena is one of the founders of Torino City Lab, Turin's first city living lab, now in its 4th year of operational activity, intended as a place where technology is measured against real needs to offer new solutions to improve the quality of life. She recently curated and submitted the application to MISE for the realization of the House of Emerging Technologies in Turin, winning the call. Today, she is the Head of Innovation of CTE NEXT, the House of Emerging Technologies of Turin, a spin-off of Torino City Lab, which aims to create a diffuse technology transfer center on emerging technologies enabled by 5G capable of promoting business development, skills growth and industrial and urban innovation in strategic sectors for Turin.
Viesturs Celmins
Urban Planner
Viesturs Celmins
Urban PlannerViesturs Celmins is an urban planner with more than 15 years of international experience in planning and development. Viesturs holds degrees from the New School and the University of Cambridge and is a frequent public speaker and panelist in the areas of planning, innovation and smart city development. Starting 2018, Viesturs manages VEFRESH innovation district and Living Lab in Riga, Latvia.
Eric Gaudillat
5G connectivity at DG CONNECT of the European Commission
Eric Gaudillat
5G connectivity at DG CONNECT of the European CommissionEric Gaudillat is in charge of investment policy in 5G connectivity at DG CONNECT of the European Commission. He coordinates the Connecting Europe Facility funding action on 5G for Smart Communities, launching a call for proposals planned October 2022 to February 2023. He has been working in electronic communications policy, research and innovation for ten years. Prior to the Commission, he was product manager at a software editor for trading desks of market banks. He holds an Ingénieur MSc from Telecoms Bretagne and a Business MSc from HEC Paris.
Jochem Cooiman
Innovation officer for the city of Rotterdam
Jochem Cooiman
Innovation officer for the city of RotterdamJochem Cooiman is innovation officer for the city of Rotterdam. Together with his fellow innovation officers he works on enhancing innovative capacities in Rotterdam, of both the municipality as well as of its city stakeholders. For their innovation Network Rotterdam (iNR) – currently 2.500 members large – the new I innovation centre VONK has been established. In this centre they investigate, experiment and learn how to deal with the various societal challenges and transformations.
Chiara Foglietta
City of Turin's Councillor for Ecological and Digital Transition, Innovation, Environment, Mobility and Transportation
Chiara Foglietta
City of Turin's Councillor for Ecological and Digital Transition, Innovation, Environment, Mobility and TransportationChiara Foglietta is the City of Turin's Councillor for Ecological and Digital Transition, Innovation, Environment, Mobility and Transportation. At 28 she became a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, at 32 deputy group leader of the PD in the Red Room. She works in health care, and the last Covid years were really intense: she opened, at the IT infrastructure level, new departments, watched them fill to capacity, and then shut them down, with the relief of feeling that perhaps we were coming out of a nightmare. Her path in politics, as in associationism, is guided by a precise goal: to give a voice to those who don’t have one, to represent those who don’t have rights, so that society becomes, at least a little, more fair.