The Italian paradox: Industrio Ventures and the "real startups"

In 1966, Italy was an advanced industrial country. We were the homeland of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Giulio Natta, the isotactic polypropylene, the Olivetti, the Program 101, the first space company in the world (the Telespazio, today still a major player in the sector) and the homeland of the first European satellite San Marco 1. Today, exactly half a century later, it is no longer so. Of course we still remain a great industrial country, right after Germany in Europe, but we are no longer groundbreaking as before.

That's what I like to call the “Italian Paradox”. Our cities and companies, our research centers and universities are full of talents, young (and old) with big dreams and extraordinary capabilities, but often lacking of opportunities. But I am sure that, with the right tools, it is possible to give back to everybody a future to look for. A future in which they can launch the new Olivetti, the Telespazio and the Isotactic Polypropylene.

Credits: https://www.tpi.it/mondo/italia/ricordando-giulio-natta

A challenging project.

This is precisely the purpose of Industrio Ventures, the first hardware startup accelerator in Italy. Industrio was founded in 2013 by me, Jari Ognibeni, and three visionary entrepreneurs like Alfredo Maglione, Alberto Gasperi and Alessio Romani. When we jumped in this challenge (too crazy, according to many) we were moved and inspired by a beautiful and daring dream, but practical at the same time: to contribute to relaunch the italian industrial ecosystem, in order to become great once again.

Today, after three years of dedication, hard work, struggles and many satisfaction, Industrio is no longer a dream but a reality that inspires dreams, as testified by two amazing exit (Dr Tech Wine and Melixa, startup in which we invested in 2014) and eight investments in extraordinarily promising startups.

Made Great in Italy.

The vision that runs the accelerator is as simple as ambitious: to help the greatest talents to launch their hardware company, following the mantra "Made Great in Italy". Because Italy, let me emphasize it again, is abundant in raw materials like creativity, intelligence and competence, but over the years has lost the ability to turn all this into innovative products; Industrio wants to help to reverse the trend.

These days there’s much talk about the Industry 4.0, but my partners and I have always believed in the Industry 4.0: from our point of view, in fact, only a manufacturing capable of welding industrial concreteness with amounts of technological innovation and new organizational models can bring Italy to the industrial glory of the past.

That's why we decided to give life to Industrio in 2013. A habitat able to provide to talented new-entrepreneurs the three essential keys to success:

1. Risk Capital (micro-seed)
2. Know-how and Expertise
3. Manufacturing Platform

In other words, we offer a hands-on support (extremely practical) to those we like to call "real startups": we mean startup that are made up of engineers and technologists with the desire to create a product not only innovative but also unique, salable, patentable... and especially hardware!

We are interested in industries that also stick to reality and include tangible assets: mechatronics and robotics, agricultural technology, Internet of Things (IoT), biotech, automotive and so on. If a startup work in one of these businesses, and has the above requirements, can knock at our door; we will help to move quickly from an idea to action, getting to a finished product in 6 months, and looking ahead to a first sales within 12 months from the launch.

Our model is steeped in the Anglo-Saxon pragmatism. In fact, we are inspired by the typical startup accelerators of the United States and United Kingdom, but without forgetting that Industrio is based in Italy (in Rovereto precisely), not in California or in the Greater London: while the Anglo-Saxon innovation ecosystems are plentiful of VC and business angels, in our country the financial availability is far more limited; on the other hand we have a manufacturing pattern of extraordinary SMEs. Treasure of skills, pragmatism and expertise that we wanted to highlight from the beginning by involving them in Industrio.

A team work.

From 2013 to date, the accelerator has grown at the same pace of its partners’ network: at firstly microelectronics companies, product-development, rapid prototyping, mechanics, plastics etc ... but also professionals, local authorities, universities and research centers throughout Italy.

Building this network has required a lot of effort, but it has paid off: entering the acceleration program at Industrio means being thrown since day zero in a network of over 70 high profile italian partners, helping startups to conceive, improve, validate and produce a high quality product, with a strong innovation and great commercial appeal.

Because to give back the greatness to Made in Italy, we must work together.

This piece is the first of a series focused on the hottest topics of the manufacturing and the entrepreneurs’ stories who face these challenges every day, here in Italy. To never miss an article, and to know more about topics such as Hardware in Italy, Industry 4.0, Venture Client and Open Innovation, subscribe to our newsletter!

- Jari Ognibeni (CEO, Industrio Ventures)

Hey, for any comments, feedback and highlighting please contact me on Twitter @Jaribeni.