Metropolitan City of Florence promoted “Project to support innovative startups belonging to Florence area”, which ended in January 2017 with the cooperation of bank Foundation Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Foundation for Research and Innovation. The purpose of the project was to freely support 12 innovative startups belonging to the florentine metropolitan area in their growing/acceleration phase. The contribute and support offered was about micro-services coming directly from startups’ requests among those available for the project. The growing pathway included the help of tutors/mentors, depending on specific needs.
Duration
The deadline to apply for the call was June, 19th 2016. The duration was of 8 months, from June 2016 till January 2017
Recipients
The Metropolitan City of Florence promoted the project, Foundation for Research and Innovation implemented it and bank Foundation Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze supported it.
Target has been a sub-group of innovative startups registered by Chamber of Commerce of Florence.
Services provided
Services provided were:
- Tutoring
- Mentoring
- Networking
- Fundraising
- Matchmaking
Besides services provided, there were educational activities such as workshops on specific required needs:
- Business planning and modelling
- Processes and models for organizational innovation
- Fundraising: public instruments for innovative startups
- Tax advantages for companies investing in R&D
The most required services were:
Tutoring for business plans and business models redaction/review
Networking with research centers to activate scientific collaborations or to hire high-qualified people
Fundraising on open and available public funding measures for innovative startups
Startups involved
The sample was made by 138 innovative startups, among which the selected ones were 12:
- 5 coming from Nana Bianca startup studio
- 4 as spin-offs from University of Florence
- 1 as spin-off from CNR
- 2 as startups with no specific bonds with other local realities
Social-economic impacts
Social-economic impacts for startups were:
- Increased range of products/services sold
- Higher employability
- Higher competitiveness and profitability
- Increased networking activities
- Easier access to private and public funding (especially for R&D activities)
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Project results were showed in March 2017 during our event “Innovation Culture – farming innovation, harvesting future”, which took place by bank Foundation Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze headquarter in Vi Bufalini 6 (read our news about it here, italian only)
For further information on services and how startups attended, please check the following documents (italian only) of the past edition: