Support to innovation and startups

Support for companies and start-ups embraces the development of their innovation processes, also through the promotion and support to business transformation and multidisciplinary research projects, key strategic levers for competitiveness in a constantly evolving market.

UN SDGs SUPPORTED

Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center is the Group's company dedicated to frontier innovation across five main areas: research, startups, ecosystems, open innovation, and spreading of the culture of innovation. As the Group’s competence centre for the circular economy (CE), it supports SMEs/Corporates in their path towards sustainability, contributing to make the Intesa Sanpaolo Group the driving force of a more aware, inclusive and sustainable economy.

Neva SGR is the venture capital of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, wholly owned by Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center. Through Neva SGR, Intesa Sanpaolo can provide venture capital to high-tech companies (in areas such as Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, AI, 5G, and Blockchain), acting as a financial vehicle for the hi-tech sector.

In collaboration with research centers and universities, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center carries out applied research projects across multiple multidisciplinary areas: Agritech, Low Carbon Materials & Decarbonization, Energy Transition, Climate & Biodiversity, Health & Safety, Marketing & Communication, HR-Education & Inclusion, ART, Anti-Financial Crime & Fraud Detection, Finance, Insurance & Wealth Management.

Among the ongoing research projects:

 - one in the Climate & Biodiversity field, focusing on models for assessing consumer awareness of Climate Change and biodiversity-related aspects;

 - two in the Health & Safety and Wellbeing field. One is dedicated to the use of the humanoid robot Pepper for maintaining cognitive abilities and social skills in patients with initial cognitive decline. The other focuses on the development of models for the use of robots in assistive and social contexts.

Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center has distinctive competence in supporting the growth of startups; activities carried out through paths managed directly or in partnership, within the context of actions on innovation ecosystems or specific projects or for third-party clients. Within the scope of supporting startups, in 2023 the second edition of two important initiatives was realized. 

Up2Stars: promoted by Banca dei Territori, it is aimed at 40 startups across 4 vertical pillars: Watertech; Renewable energy and energy efficiency; AI for business transformation; IoT, infrastructure, and mobility. In 2023, it received 200 applications, and the acceleration of 10 startups is currently underway in the context of the second pillar.

In Action ESG Climate: promoted by the Insurance Division, it aims to promote new solutions to combat climate change and support the green transition through technological innovation and the development of new business models.

Through the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, the Group oversees and develops the national and international innovation network and the fastest-growing ecosystems (Israel, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, New York) for technological scouting and support for the Bank's business division clients.

At the national level, initiatives for the growth of startups and the development of innovation ecosystems are underway in six cities (Turin, Florence, Naples, Venice, Ancona and Taranto).

Open innovation is a strategic and cultural approach whereby companies, in order to create more value and compete better in the market, choose to rely not only on internal ideas and resources but also on ideas, solutions, tools, and technological expertise that come from outside, particularly from startups, universities, research institutes, suppliers, inventors, programmers, and consultants. 

The Group supports this approach by offering companies non-financial services and advisory through Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, in synergy with the Banca dei Territori and IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Divisions, to facilitate the matchmaking between demand and supply of innovation and promote the begin of paths towards transition to the circular economy paradigm. 
43 companies involved (2022-2023), of which 6 are in transformative projects in the circular economy area.

The participation of the Intesa Sanpaolo Vita Insurance Group, as an industrial partner, in an open innovation program dedicated to the health sector is also relevant. The program aims to involve international startups and key players in the healthcare industry (such as research institutes and healthcare facilities) to identify innovative solutions and prototypes to integrate into the core business of the insurance group. Participation in this program has, for example, allowed the identification of solutions in robotics, phytotherapy with wearable devices, and new digital platforms for promoting well-being, to be integrated into the insurance offerings.

Dissemination of knowledge and culture of innovation both through the new Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center website and through seminars and positioning and match making events to match innovation supply and demand.

The innovative transformation paths of companies also require financial support and Intesa Sanpaolo is active on this front both through its own financing solutions, such as NOVA+, and through agreements at European and national level to allow companies to access public benefits.

¹ International program to accompany the most ambitious companies in their development phases.
² E.g. industry trend reports, reports on watertech and sustainable cities, publications on the silver economy, bioplastics and on the metaverse and social cognition.