Tef: 130 million in 15 months. Science becomes business
By moving into the new Bovisa hub, the Tech Europe Foundation is taking a further step towards achieving its objectives, following the merger between Polihub and Bocconi For Innovation and the launch of its programmes
Key points
An open project, a platform ‘that systematically transforms science into business’, to quote its CEO, Luca de Angelis. The Tech Europe Foundation (TEF) was set up to fill a gap that has for too long characterised Italy and Europe and which, in recent years – driven by the acceleration brought about by artificial intelligence – has created a huge gap between them and the United States and China.
“Today, the world’s largest global companies are increasingly research-intensive organisations; just look at the latest IPOs: Anthropic and OpenAI are conducting cutting-edge research, whilst SpaceX is producing products of the highest engineering standard,” observes de Angelis. At the same time, product time-to-market is becoming ever shorter. Europe seems to be left out of all this, and not because of a lack of raw materials, capacity or research quality, nor even a lack of funding.”
Italia’s lag and potential
What is lacking in our country, according to Tef’s CEO, “is a mechanism that generates and supports ideas”. To achieve this, three things are needed, which are currently absent or lacking in Italia: incentives for breakthrough research (i.e. focusing on high-risk, high-impact technologies), managerial capital and, above all, a culture of growth.
“This is what we were born to do,” explains de Angelis, “and we’re doing it with the ambition of launching a thousand start-ups a year, carrying out over 300 research projects and raising a billion – the minimum amount needed to get us back on track.” The operating model (“authentic and home-grown”, as the CEO puts it) is that of a non-profit infrastructure which supports research originating from universities – where ideas are born – and nurtures them by integrating them with managerial capital and, finally, helps to connect them with industry and investors.
What has been achieved in 15 months
If this is the vision, the results are already tangible after just 15 months of operation: established in early 2025 and now supported by six founding members (the Polimi Foundation, Bocconi University, Ion, Fsi, the Milan, Monza, Brianza and Lodi Chamber of Commerce and the Ennio Doris Foundation), Tef has raised around 130 million to date, launched five out of six products (the sixth is due in the autumn), funded 111 research projects, supported 78 start-ups and engaged 1,135 people.
