2017: Building impact

Transcription

1 2017: Building impact

2 Ambition, impact and entrepreneurial energy are our keywords, the spirit that is moving us to create something new, something that does not exist yet. for Technology Transfer in Piedmont and further afield. Reactive to opportunities Andrea Alunni Chairman Our partners, founders and personnel provided the energy for a rewarding year of tech transfer activity in Piedmont. The year 2016 marks a period of transition for LINKS as it projects its operations to the global arena, operating from the heart of Turin. Researchers from Boella and SiTI provided the necessary support and enthusiasm to make our activities relevant and enlightened. These activities in turn were aided by our founding institutions Polytechnic University of Turin and Compagnia San Paolo. This report documents the impact we have already ingrained in the local tech transfer sector with stories that describe the contributions of our programmes, people and partners to the economic vitality and quality of life of our region, and beyond. We hope these stories will provide a glimpse of the activities LINKS has engaged in and inspire you to support our growing technology and innovation ecosystem in the days to andreaalunni The LINKS Foundation in its first year of operations has paved the way for its future as the leading initiative 2 3

3 Maximizing the socio-economic impact of advanced innovation Francesco Profumo We are convinced that Compagnia di San Paolo has to increase its feeling of people and society, and the path we are following is to develop projects in close collaboration with our stakeholders maximizing our involvement in the definition of actions and in the measurement of their impact on the socio-economic system and citizens. The focus of our 2020 strategy is to build a Foundation capable of being a hub of competences, services and territorial policies. The final goal is the development of our society and local economy. We strongly believe that the "We strongly believe that the solutions is to react with our behavior, being proactive and reactive to opportunities." solutions is to react with our behaviour, being proactive and reactive to opportunities. In terms of innovation and research, we have a successful track record of investments and initiatives, and an extensive set of international collaborations as well. However, we intend to push forward. We intend to increase our positive impact on local and national economy throughout the exploration of advanced technology transfer. Having this in mind, Compagnia is actively involved is strict collaboration with both ISMB and SiTI research organizations. The LINKS Foundation is the new actor aiming to bridge the gap between the innovation results and innovation needs of large enterprises and SMEs. Maximizing the impact of advanced innovation means to provide companies, spin-off and startups with practical tools for their products or services. Tools can be innovations results made by ISMB, access to patents or IPs of third parties, support in generation of Proof-of- Concepts and finally access to finance. Within a framework of applied research and technology transfer even more based on multidisciplinary knowledge necessary to face growing complex problems, the synergic and coordinated joint mission linking Politecnico di Torino and LINKS has been covering a role more and more relevant in the enhancement the value of their own skills and competences achieved so far. This goal can be reached through a rational coordination, which is to be considered even more important now, when PoliTo research model has changed by merging together specializing activities performed by our Departments and the new Interdepartmental Centers activities. The Interdepartmental Centers originated as horizontal platforms with the aim of sharing multi-sectorial competences to be used as problem-solving tools, thanks to the work and the integration of the experiences of different research groups. Through these open platforms and thanks to the joint competences of SiTi and Boella merged in a whole, the value of LINKS applied research areas can be highly enhanced. Some solid and positive collaborative experiences were already put into action some time ago, others are a gateway for knowledge Valorization growing and some many others should not be long in coming and being implemented: Interdepartmental Centers devoted and focused on mobility, evolution of the city and of the territory, big-data, energy, advanced and additive manufacturing, just to quote some of them, which are considered to be strategic by PoliTo University Bodies, open the frontiers to active and effective cooperation, where LINKS knowledge can integrate and complement Politecnico Knowledge. So, this new opportunity definitely represents a strong basis of a new frontier towards the enhancement of the value of the LINKS human capital, as a symbol of the fusion of SiTi and Boella. "We believe that the joint mission of Politecnico and LINKS will cover a role more and more relevant in the enhancement the value of their own skills and competences." Marco Gilli 4 5

4 Key results According to its strategic goals & values, LINKS started important initiatives which aim to: consolidate the business objectives and corporate values promote a clear message to investors at national and international levels, customers, IP owner Activities Strategic Plan First release Launch of "Startup to the Future" events coorganized with I3P and Polytechnic University of Turin Participation in AIFI (Italian Association of Investment and Venture Capital Funds) and active support of Venture Capital and Corporate Venture Capital working groups Proposal to assist the EU-IPO Expression of Interest office as subject matter experts. The proposal leveraged ISMB expertise Actively participated in the Torino Startup Initiative working group led by the staff in the Turin Mayor's office analyse opportunities of support from companies and investment funds Launch of activities on social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) LINKS is part of the delegation from Turin sent to Amsterdam to analyse the Startup Amsterdam benchmark Communication Plan First release Submission of a project proposal to the ENEL Beauty Contest competition in cooperation with Polytechnic University of Turin and I3P Collaboration with ESCP Europe Business School. Study on Technology Transfer Offices, focusing on Boulder and Munich benchmarks 6 7

5 Activities Presentation of LINKS to companies engaged by the ISMB industrial liaison team Launch of the ITHACA valorization program Collaboration with the Financial Group of Compagnia di San Paolo for technical and IP evaluation in investment opportunities Launch of the working group aiming to define the Intellectual Property Agreement with Polytechnic University of Turin Master Thesis in collaboration with University of Turin Management Department: Relationship between TTO and Incubator Technology Transfer Offices: a benchmark for European and American excellence through the study of KPIs Technology Transfer Offices: a benchmark for European and American excellence through the study of strategic plans Analysis of collaboration models and policies between LINKS and regional business incubators LINKS vision on Smart Cities and Industry 4.0 initiatives Collaboration with Equiter for technical due diligence in investment opportunities Launch of the working group for LINKS initiatives in China Definition of LINKS - HIT partnership agreement on opportunities sharing Launch of the working group aiming to define the LINKS - Università del Piemonte Orientale Cooperation Agreement Organization and teaching of the Innovation Management course as part of the Masters Degree in Management and Economics at University of Turin 8 9

6 Communication Believe in our challenges Role of LINKS in the national and international economic system. LINKS is what is often called a one-stop-shop because it provides opportunities and solutions to diverse stakeholders maximizing their impact. To introduce and promote our new reality, we are developing a communications plan that initially calls for: Startuppers Startups should see LINKS as the entity able to react quickly to a broad range of needs: Ability to understand new themes and technologies. Ability to develop Proof Of Concept (through the cooperation with ISMB). Ability to support the growth of new enterprises in business incubators (through the cooperation with I3P). Ability to facilitate investor engagement. Role of LINKS toward national and international investors Business angels, as well as all investors, should see LINKS as the entity able to promote startups that have already received support from LINKS in: Due diligence over patents and IP. Development of new and previous POC, as well as the assessment of new business ideas. Support of startups in the early stage, through specific services for the definition of the work team and credible business plans and models. The website linksfoundation.com The website is the means by which LINKS will disseminate and share its contextual information, strategic direction and mission. Through the website, LINKS will present itself to the world in its institutional form, which is increasingly in touch with the people. The current website is the starting point from which we will continue working with the support of the Compagnia di San Paolo to grow in tandem with LINKS with the aim of maintaining a dialogue with end users and managing the strategic positioning of the brand. Social Network Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Role of LINKS towards national and international institutions Objectives depend on the type of institution: Local institutions: LINKS gives value to the local economic system in an exclusive way. Through the ability to produce measurable opportunities (e.g., new jobs) and give constant support to local institutions, LINKS fosters a proactive local network of actors devoted to innovation. International institutions: LINKS has the challenging objective of projecting its activity into an international dimension, promoting the local system of actors toward international institutions and organizations. Role of LINKS towards people LINKS has numerous success stories about people contributing to capacity building, global vision, the ability to face new challenges, and much more. Social networks play an important role in connecting LINKS to its relevant stakeholders, people and institutions, experts and amateurs, by creating privileged relationships. Social media will serve as the channel used in this stage to communicate with an audience interested from the onset. We will also use it to monitor the growth of LINKS and to share initial results. For the next few months, there will be a very rich social program schedule, which will continuously include relevant content and information. There will also be an Instagram channel through which we will "talk" with images to a unique audience that is of great interest to us. Stay tuned. We need all of you to get involved in our social media profiles so that we can communicate with you as we get off to a good start with clearly outlined ambitions. Additionally, we will be promoting the event co-organized with I3P that is dedicated to connecting startups, investors and industries. On the first Wednesday of each month, the afternoon Periscope meeting will be covered live, establishing us as a reference point in the area

7 Startup to the future A series of monthly meetings and discussion sessions around startups and IPs with high potential interest for investors. The format includes a keynote speech followed by the presentation of two startups or inventor ideas, being POC or IPs. Startup TO THE FUTURE is jointly organized with I3P and the TTO of Polytechnic University of Turin. We intend to link top ideas with investment opportunities A series of events dedicated to investors 01/03 Event#1 Cybersecurity is acquiring a paramount of importance: the protection of computer architectures and the related data is of vital importance within the digital revolution. Two startups discuss the topic presenting their solutions. KEYNOTE: Giuseppe Zuffanti Technical Director Polizia Postale Startup ERMES Startup ToothPic 05/04 Event#2 Technology and the food industry. New digital tools can trace products, can provide info/data to the final customer and can support professionals (from industries to chefs) for their daily activities. KEYNOTE: Fabrizio Serra General Manager Fondazione Paideia Startup Scloby Startup Food-Chian Startup 09/05 Event#3 Digital Technology applies to a variety of fields. It is possible to measure the intensity of rain through smartphone pictures in order to support civil protection, precision farming, transport safety, or outdoor sports. At the same time, it is possible to create a portable rehabilitation hand exoskeleton for the rehabilitation of the hand. KEYNOTE: Emilio Paolucci Deputy Rector for Technology Transfer Politecnico Torino Startup WaterView Patent of Politecnico Rehand 06/06 Event#4 Technology improves people's lives. Environment control devices allow remote interaction with homes, increasing comfort while optimising overall consumption. There are also devices that combine nature and technology into a single element, such as a ventilation system composed of a device that uses the properties of the plants to purify indoor air. KEYNOTE: Giovanni MiscioscIa Business Angel, Serial Entrepreneur Startup NOVA Smarthome PoC Politecnico Aria 3 04/07 Event#5 Innovation and the construction industry. Solutions for structural monitoring of buildings and infrastructures such as bridges and tunnels, with the aim of improving territorial control and disaster resilience. Next events The concrete of the future: bricks made of sawing mud. KEYNOTE: Marco Rosso Vice President ANCE Torino Startup Sysdev Spinoff Politecnico Stone Brick 12 13

8 Bricks That build impact Bricks Cooperation agreements with academies and/or companies taking the mandate for exploitation and valorization of their IP portfolio Being the point of entry to research results and expertise offered by its partners LINKS works with companies on tailor-made licensing programs maximizing the impact of research&innovation results on the market Cooperation agreement with national and international investors providing top quality deal-flow and access to ideas Due diligence on IPs with respect to exploitation throughout start-up or spinoff generation Promotion of the overall LINKS knowledge portfolio involving partners and inventors Being a private foundation, LINKS assures flexibility in managing licensing programs LINKS is a one-stop-shop for knowledge valorization having the possibility to engage the financial community, to develop proper Proofof-Concept and to work on the start-up launch and acceleration LINKS is open to talents, startuppers and entrepreneurs being the entry point for their knowledge protection and valorization LINKS generates value around ideas creating the context for the first-market 14 15

9 The process STRATEGY FOR CREATION OF value knowledge portfolio ip portfolio LINKS holds an important role in knowledge development and exploitation, a role that is not yet covered by other entities! Starting from the IPRs created by the academia (i.e. Polytechnic University of Turin) and by other research institutes, such as ISMB and SiTI, LINKS is able to evaluate the associated technological and financial aspects, through deep due diligence processes and technological assessments. LINKS gets concrete results from the technology transfer and from the creation of startups, leveraging on conventional financial instruments provided by Venture Capitalists. Universities, startups Project ideas Prototype poc Startups Ip valorization program companies Give back (equity License royalty) 16 17

10 People We meet! people And institutions ZBD Zeichen Business Development GmbH alessio cagna 18 ZBD - Zeichen Business Development GmbH, headquartered in Berlin and Turin, is an outsourcing consulting and management company for enterprise development, focusing in particular on start-up technology and turnaround SMEs. ZBD conducts the analysis of opportunities and criticalities that characterize new forms of entrepreneurship, focusing on investor needs both in project identification and evaluation and in monitoring subsequent developments. ZBD overcomes the criticalities that startups encounter in finding the necessary financial resources (risk and debt capital), as well as in optimising their use. I think that for subjects like ZBD, said Alessio Cagna, entrepreneur and AD, the presence of LINKS, in Italy and Turin in particular, is crucial, because it is able to aggregate and offer opportunities to the local ecosystem. I imagine that after this first year synergies and collaborations will be able to grow further and achieve great results. School of Management and Economics university of Turin giacomo büchi The School of Management and Economics is instituted in accordance with the Statute of the University of Turin. The School is composed of the Department of Management and the Department of Economic and Social Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics. The School organizes and coordinates all the activities and services of the two Departments. The Management Department seeks in its entirety the complex reality of business contexts. The observation point is the COMPANY and the management activity that is realized within it. The relationship between the LINKS Foundation and the Professors of the School of Management and Economics of the University of Turin, says Giacomo Büchi, aims at jointly analysing the opportunities associated with knowledge and IP valorization programs that have a major impact on the economy and society. We started with three Master Thesis and soon we will establish a formal partnership agreement between the two institutions. I3P incubatore imprese innovative del politecnico di torino massimiliano ceaglio I3P, the Innovative Enterprise Incubator of Polytechnic University of Turin, is the leading Italian university-based incubator and one of the main European ones. According to the UBI Index, I3P ranks 5 th in Europe and 15 th in the world. In December 2014, I3P was awarded the "Fastest Growing Knowledge-Based Incubator prize" during the worldwide competition Best Practice in Science Based Incubation organized by Technopolicy Network. I3P is a non-profit jointstock consortium founded by Polytechnic University of Turin, the Metropolitan City of Turin, Chamber of Commerce of Turin, Finpiemonte, City of Turin and Torino Wireless Foundation. To support the startups in its portfolio, one of the main tasks of an important incubator like I3P is to create networking activity with qualified stakeholders," explains Massimiliano Ceaglio, Chief Operating Officer. "For every incubator it is crucial to manage a network capable of attracting the highest number of investors, prospects and high profile industrial partners interested in collaborating with the start-up ecosystem. For this reason, we consider collaborating with LINKS extremely important. It is a qualified partner that increases the chance of collaboration between our startups, the international financial system and medium to large local companies." hit hub innovazione trentino alessandro commito HIT is a non-profit corporate consortium that promotes the research results and innovation of the Trentino system in order to foster local business innovation and development. HIT acts as a catalyst of innovation, focusing on technology transfer and scouting of innovation opportunities for shareholders and, indirectly, for the territory of the Autonomous Province of Trento at national, European and international levels, in the areas of the smart specialization strategy identified by the Autonomous Province of Trento. With the goal of maximizing the impact of Tech Transfer initiatives, HIT and LINKS are closely working to set up a preferential collaboration that will reinforce the deal-flow and top quality IPs. 19

11 The builders Day by day cristiana d'alberto sara oggero massimo marcarini paolo mulassano antonio lotito paolo @Paol_one frediano checchinato marco valle luca d'andrea fernando palladino @FredChecchinato

12 linksfoundation.com linksfoundation Via Pier Carlo Boggio Torino (Italia) +(039) All rights are reserved LINKSFoundation Published 2017 Cover image: Shutterstock 22 23

13