Silicon Valley Emilia Romagna: building a bridge for our ecosystem. Sara Monesi

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1 Silicon Valley Emilia Romagna: building a bridge for our ecosystem Sara Monesi

2 I m Sara Monesi Background: electronic engineer with an industrial master in telecommunication 10 years in telecom & software big companies 2003 today Manager of the ASTER startup department

3 I m Sara Monesi I manage several startup projects

4 I m Sara Monesi I m Head of Le Serre di ASTER

5 I coach startups I m Sara Monesi

6 I help startups to grow

7 I m Sara Monesi I m in charge of Emilia-Romagna in Silicon Valley Program

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9 Companies with 50% of their market abroad have twice the growth rate than the average (report Unioncamere 2015)

10 Only 50% of Italian startups are active in foreign markets (ItaliaStartup Report 2016)

11 Learning process

12 I m Sara Monesi I m in charge of Emilia-Romagna in Silicon Valley Program

13 Silicon Valley Emilia Romagna a bridge for our ecosystem

14 Outlook on Silicon Valley 100+ unicorns, with a turnover of +1 billion $ (6 of them are decacorns ) The global turnover of all them is +2.8 trilions $, (+75% in the last 3 years), around 6% of the whole US entreprises revenues The startup ecosystem is 6 times bigger than New York s one, 9 bigger than London, and 13 than Berlin Around startups active 43% of VC investments in US are in Silicon Valley, 30% of early stage investments worldwide

15 EU presence in Silicon Valley

16 Results Starting from Sept 2015, the Emilia-Romagna Region (through ASTER) set a base in Silicon Valley to support startups in their internationalization process and in their approach to the Silicon Valley mindset. In particular: A desk for ASTER and the Region has been created in Silicon Valley A paper on the presence of EU institutions in Silicon Valley has been produced Good practice transfer: ASTER Mentor Board 4 editions of the Silicon Valley Mindset Program (Nov May, July, Dec 2016), involving 33 startups Silicon Valley 2016: talks with Venture Capitalists and international startups Creation of an Alumni Association (gathering participants to the various programs)

17 Startups results The results are not easy to quantify yet (since the activities have been focusing until now mainly on mindset transfer and training), but some startups have already seen some concrete benefit from the activities in Silicon Valley: Pigro closed a deal in the US with a b2b client met during the 4th Mindset Program Evensi after the experience in Silicon Valley decided to open an office in San Francisco: the company is growing 30% monthly, 15 people are on the team, they are raising a $2.5M round from US VCs (they also got an acquisition offer - that they refused) FruttaWeb raised 300K and reached 1M in revenues ShapeMe and InnerME changed their market more on a B2B focus, after the mentoring received during the Mindset Program, and the market is responding in a positive way

18 2017 guidelines for activities Reinforce the whole regional ecosystem Share with all the Regional community the network and the competence acquired in Silicon Valley Promote a give back process on the Emilia-Romagna community, also through the Alumni association Design new activities targeting SMEs and startups in their growth fase Become an innovation hub also for corporates Raise the interest and involve other Italian Regions

19 2017 activities - target Business ideas Startups Innovative SMEs Corporates Incubators Investors Local communities

20 2017 Activity RER desk available for planning joint initiatives Desk-office for startups and SMEs 2 Mindset Programs/year for startups and business ideas 1 Accelerator path for 4 startups 1 Business Matching for SMEs 1 training experience for incubator managers Study visits for Local communities Visits for the Mentor Board members and Open Innovation activities Activities for ER investors Involvement of other Regions

21 RER base in Silicon Valley

22 Activities & opportunities for startups Starter kit Access to an office for 1 month + networking activities to get familiar with the Silicon Valley context Mindset Program 2 weeks training and networking programs in Silicon Valley. 2 programs per year, accessible also to business ideas Accelerator program 3 months Accelerator program in Silicon Valley, for 4 startups willing to scale-up their business

23 for SMEs Business Match Networking and matching programs involving US Corporates and SMEs from the Emilia-Romagna Region. The matching will be done on the basis of the technology offer by the Emilia-Romagna SMEs that are able to meet the innovation needs of US companies A Bootcamp dedicated to 20 SMEs in Italy + a program in Silicon Valley for 8 SMEs.

24 for Incubators Training program dedicated to incubator managers 1 week training in Silicon Valley for incubator managers of the Emilia- Romagna Network. (participants are requested to speak English and to cover the travel expenses). Local communities study visits 1 week of full immersion in Silicon Valley dedicated to delegations composed by startups, makers, entrepreneurs and policy makers. Activities and meetings are defined on the basis of specific needs and priorities of the participants. Study visits costs can be covered by the attending SMEs.

25 for Corporates and Investors Mentor Board members Mentors will be involved in meetings and activities in Silicon Valley to learn more about startup support practices Open Innovation Innovation scouting in Silicon Valley for Emilia-Romagna Corporates through existing networks Investors training and access to networks for Emilia-Romagna Investors

26 Sara Monesi High Competencies and Startup Unit Manager Thank Irene Mingozzi Startup International Development - Silicon Valley, US Office irene.mingozzi@aster.it

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