A new ecosystem for innovation

Published: 2008 - August/September, Business

“The key element for creating a new ecosystem favorable to risk capital is represented by the development of new capital funds in the private sector.” It was stated by the American Ambassador Ronald P. Spogli at the summit “Partnership for Growth” organized by the American Embassy at Vega, the scientific technological center of Venice, in cooperation with the Metadistretto Digital Mediale. “Italy has one of the highest rates of saving in the western world, but only a small portion of it is invested in new fast-growing companies. We want to give more dynamism, explains the ambassador – to the Italian economy which, unfortunately, in the new millennium has experienced an annual growth of Gross Domestic Product lower than one percent.”
A key is securing the “private equity” and “venture capitals”, financial strategies seldom used in Italy and Veneto. During the summit, AIFI, The Italian Association for Private Equity and Joint Venture, has supplied some figures pertaining to investments in 2007, from which to gather that the contribution of venture capital in the expansion of high tech Veneto companies is rather scarce (only two transactions for a total of five million Euros), while the traditional manufacturing sector has received 266 million Euros. Overall in the region, 460 million Euros have been invested, double (99%) compared to the previous year. “Besides interments, like private equities and joint ventures or direct investments, the general economic conditions must be improved, continued Spogli, meaning a higher deregulation.”   
“That is why we have promoted the  Partnership for Growth and other related initiatives, such as the Fulbright-Best, which offers 15 scholarships to brilliant Italian students so that they may acquire experience in the best companies and universities in the Silicon Valley with the obligation of returning to Italy at the completion of their training to contribute their know-how.” Spogli continues by reminding of the ‘Mind the Bridge’ project, “a business plan competition whose unique philosophy is to be an open knowledge architecture for creating network and which in its last edition has seen among the winners the proposal by VivaBioCell from Friuli Venezia Giulia.”
The work by the American Ambassador Ronald P. Spogli has prompted the Italian entrepreneurs listening to him, to secure relations with important people of the Italian history of innovation in America and especially in the Silicon Valley in California, where 80% of all the American venture capital projects are concentrated. To reproduce the Silicon Valley ecosystem is the task and mission of those entrepreneurs who have met at the summit for the building of a Platform of cooperation, still at the very early stage, but that already describes its goals: put on line, relate, supply services and working instruments that would facilitate contacts, technologies and know-how.
The result of the first partnerships are a series of initiatives such as the “ First Generation Network”, a portal of discussion and exchange of experiences among  Italian companies; The “IAG–Italian Angels for Growth”, an association of forty entrepreneurs who, in cooperation amongst themselves,  review new enterprises and start-ups; the “F2F–Face to Face”, an interactive video-interview  program, where successful entrepreneurs tell their own story, with the possibility of live interventions by the internauts; in addition to the already mentioned “Fulbright-Best” and “Mind the Bridge.”