Italian Innovation Centre in San Francisco (US)

Promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, the Embassy of Italy in Washington and the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco, with the collaboration of ICE and the Italian Cultural Institute, Innovit, a strategic project aimed at fostering innovative business initiatives and activities, was born.

The activities of the Italian Innovation Center at Innovit, the first Italian Innovation and Culture Hub in San Francisco, have the main objective of supporting long-term investments and fostering a stable Italian presence in Silicon Valley, a unique opportunity for Italian innovation, which will finally be able to interact with the epicentre of the world of technology; the centre in San Francisco will realize this connection with North America, addressing mostly start-ups, medium and small businesses, universities, regions and cities, accelerating the international development of new technologies and encouraging Italy-US "cross-border" innovation projects.

Since October 2022, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini has been in charge of managing the Italian Innovation Centre, together with Entopan Innovation, an incubator and accelerator of Harmonic Innovation Group.

Outputs

In January 2023, Innovit launched the first call dedicated to Artificial Intelligence technologies, metaverse and the fields of cultural and creative industries. The top 40 startups and 25 SMEs in the rankings will have access to a two-week online orientation and mentorship program, while the top 15 SMEs and 15 startups in the rankings, will be able to participate by attending a one-week intensive program in San Francisco for SMEs and a two-week intensive program for startups, with the opportunity for privileged interaction with the Bay Area ecosystem.