Intesa Sanpaolo and Cariplo Foundation renew commitment to the circular economy
4 June 2025
Intesa Sanpaolo and the Cariplo Foundation strengthen their joint commitment to the circular economy by renewing their strategic support for the Circular Economy Lab, launched in 2018 by Cariplo Factory and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center.
The Circular Economy Lab supports companies in the transition to circular models, taking an integrated approach that combines advisory, education and networking, and has become a national benchmark in just a few years.
The renewed partnership is part of a European context in which the circular economy plays a central role in strategies for innovation, decarbonisation and competitiveness, reinforced by the recent EU’s Clean Industrial Deal: in this context, finance has an enabling role, directing investments towards regenerative models.
"For Italy, the circular economy is a strategic priority to strengthen the competitiveness of the production system and increase the resilience of the economic fabric. Here at Intesa Sanpaolo, we are firmly committed to promoting sustainable, concrete and scalable solutions, capable of accompanying companies on a path of regenerative innovation, future-oriented and capable of generating new economic, social and environmental value"
Paola Angeletti, Chief Sustainability Officer of Intesa Sanpaolo and Chairman of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center
In greater detail, from 2018 to date, the Circular Economy Lab has:
- developed 20 Open Innovation programmes
- mapped and evaluated more than 5,000 innovative start-ups and SMEs within innovation programmes
- collaborated with over 60 Italian and foreign universities and business schools
- involved more than 2,300 students in dozens of seminars, workshops and educational activities.
Intesa Sanpaolo has supported circular economy investments with significant funding for companies choosing to invest in circular economy models: indeed, since 2018, the Bank has disbursed over €20 billion through dedicated credit lines.
The announcement of the renewed collaboration between Intesa Sanpaolo and the Cariplo Foundation was made during the "Circular Economy: a future-proof economic paradigm” conference, which brought together institutions, businesses and the academic world with the aim of fostering the dissemination of innovative and sustainable solutions and stimulating the adoption of circular models.
What the Circular Economy Lab is
Established through a partnership between Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and Cariplo Factory, the Circular Economy Lab is an innovation initiative promoting the transition to a circular economy in Italy. It operates taking an open and collaborative approach, involving companies, start-ups, universities and research centres to spread new models of sustainable value creation.
The Circular Economy Lab combines training, consulting and networking activities to foster the adoption of circular practices and generate long-term economic, environmental and social impact.
Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center is the Intesa Sanpaolo Group company dedicated to frontier innovation, which develops research projects, supports start-ups and accompanies companies in their sustainable and digital transformation.
Cariplo Factory is a benefit corporation created by the Cariplo Foundation, which designs and implements innovation paths with social, environmental and cultural impact, supporting the growth of start-ups, enterprises and communities.
