With Berkeley Skydeck Europe, Lombardy 'House of Ideas' around the world

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The Lombardy Region continues to confirm its commitment to innovation and its role as a 'home for innovative companies' with its participation in the Berkeley SkyDeck Europe project. The initiative was set up in 2022 by the UC Berkeley SkyDeck accelerator, the Italian innovation hub Cariplo Factory and the international real estate, infrastructure and urban regeneration group Lendlease, with the aim of accompanying the growth of selected start-ups over the three-year period 2022-2024, also guaranteeing links with qualified financial operators capable of supporting the development of entrepreneurial initiatives through equity investments. The project was supported by the Lombardy Region and Fondazione Cariplo, through the mobilisation of resources amounting to EUR 2.75 million. Now, two years after its launch, there are 2,578 applications from all over the world, 36 start-ups accompanied in their growth, from Argentina, Armenia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which have received EUR 5.2 million in investments from the programme and raised more than EUR 4 million in external investors and grants. These companies have to all intents and purposes become 'Lombardy-based', as they have opened offices in Lombardy.

Among the most relevant data of these first two years of activity is the programme's contribution to the start-ups in several respects: six months after the end of the programme, these companies have almost doubled their workforce, increased the number of their customers by around 70 per cent, and increased their level of technological maturity by an average of two points (measured by the TRL index, Technology Readiness Levels, which has risen from 5 to 7, on a scale ranging from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 9). The candidate companies have been selected by UC Berkeley SkyDeck, Cariplo Factory and Landlease in different fields of activity - including life science, aerospace, energy, industry 4.0, circular economy, agrifood - and have the opportunity to meet with one of the best accelerators in the world and to access a 6-month acceleration programme, which takes place partly in Berkeley and partly in Milan, in the context of Mind - Milano Innovation District. Each startup is supervised by three mentors (two from Europe and one from the US), benefits from 55 workshops and has access to an international network of investors. Selected start-ups also benefit from a 145,000 euro investment from the investment fund linked to the programme and have the opportunity to present their project to a network of international investors.

"Lombardy is the 'House of Ideas' and thanks to SkyDeck Europe, it has become the 'House of Ideas' all over the world. The project's figures confirm Lombardy's ability to attract investments and innovative ideas; the 'Lombardy system', with its winning public-private formula, continues to anticipate the times and win the challenges of the future," commented the Lombardy Region's Councillor for Economic Development, Guido Guidesi. 'We are very proud of the results achieved. This action, launched together with the Lombardy Region and other prestigious international partners, represents an innovative way for a foundation such as Cariplo, which acts in various ways for the development of the territory and our communities," added Giovanni Azzone, president of Fondazione Cariplo. "Skydeck Europe is certainly an extraordinary showcase for Mind and, like Arexpo, we have been very committed to the University of Berkeley's accelerator choosing the Milan Innovation District for its only location outside the United States, overcoming competition from many European cities. The results have proved us right and show that when we propose high-level projects we can attract excellence from all over the world,' said Arexpo CEO Igor De Biasio. "The excellent results just three years after the start of the project confirm that bringing the world's first
non-profit academic accelerator, outside the University of California Berkeley, to Italy, right to Mind - the Milan Innovation District we are building in the area that hosted Expo 2015 - was a far-sighted intuition, an idea made possible thanks to the fundamental contribution of Regione Lombardia and Fondazione Cariplo," concluded Andrea Ruckstuhl, ceo Europe of Lendlease.