The second edition of the SMAU conference Italy RestartsUp in London took place from 10 to 12 April 2019. The conference included a joint event with Italy4Innovation, a series of events launched last year by the Embassy of Italy in London in collaboration with the Italian Trade Agency to promote a more structured relationship between the British and Italian innovation sectors.
Over 30 innovative Italian companies were represented at the conference, together with incubators, accelerators and various institutions, which opened with a reception at the Italian ambassadorial residence. The ambassador, Raffaele Trombetta, gave an opening address, in which he highlighted the numerous economic-diplomacy initiatives carried out by the embassy to promote UK-based Italian businesses, particularly in the field of new technologies.
Pierantonio Macola, the chairman of SMAU, explained that SMAU events are the largest Italian forum for innovation in business and public administration. He said that the events increasingly focus beyond Italy’s borders, with the aim of facilitating the internationalisation of Italian technological and innovative businesses. Marco Bellezza, counsellor to vice prime minister Luigi Di Maio on legal matters and digital innovation, gave an overview of the Italian government’s recent initiatives to support start-ups and innovation, including a national innovation fund, simplified procedures for setting up and winding down innovative start-ups, tax breaks for those who invest in innovative start-ups and venture-capital funds (including individual savings plans), funds for artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology.
The second day of the conference, held at the Old Truman Brewery, comprised six discussion panels, on Open Innovation; Food Revolution; Fintech; Artificial Intelligence and Smart Manufacturing; Smart Communities and the accelerator iStarter, as well as networking sessions and pitches by the participating start-ups.
The first panel discussion also served as an Italy4Innovation event and was opened by Massimo Carnelos, the embassy’s economic counsellor. The discussion focused on open innovation, the umbrella theme of this year’s SMAU conference. The open-innovation model is increasingly embraced by large companies, which establish collaborations with external businesses, mainly start-ups, to fulfil their needs for innovation and growth. The trend is increasingly taking hold in Italy, among both SMEs and larger companies, many of which were present at the conference.
On the third and final day, the entrepreneurs visited major London innovation hubs in order to promote dialogue among the various operators, a demonstration of how the compatibility between the British and Italian technological ecosystems strengthens economic collaboration between the two countries in a range of contexts.
See the SMAU website for further information on this roadshow.
