The fund is part of a broader plan to create an innovation and startup cluster in the Italian city of Milan.
Polytechnic University of Milan, Bocconi University, software producer ION and private equity firm FSI, all based in Italy, have launched Tech Europe Foundation, an initiative to transform the city of Milan into one of Europe’s leading tech hubs.
The Tech Europe Foundation has an initial fund of €100m ($110m), with the Chamber of Commerce of Milano Monza Brianza Lodi contributing the first €50m to the fund. The founding partners aim for the fund to reach €1bn by 2030.
The foundation’s goal is to fund research, scout and support startups and provide open innovation services for companies. It will focus on technologies such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, microelectronics, aerospace and renewable energy.
The project will be based at Parco dei Gasometri in Milan’s Bovisa district, which is undergoing urban regeneration. When fully operational, 1,000 startups will be hosted annually at the site.
“Strengthened by the important results achieved in recent years as an attractive and competitive innovation ecosystem, Milan is ready to establish itself as a global tech hub, able to compete with the large international metropolises,” said Carlo Sangalli, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Milano Monza Brianza Lodi.
Maurizio Tamagnini, chief executive of FSI, said the initiative will be a buffer against Italy’s ageing workforce: “We imagined TEF as a long-term generational project with the ambition of creating thousands of new technology startups to counter the chronic demographic problem at Italian companies.
“Our goal is to keep our young scientist-entrepreneurs in Italy to convert the many innovative ideas produced into the companies of tomorrow and allow Italy to maintain and strengthen its world leadership in family-run industrial capitalism.”
