THE ITALIAN MEETING FOR THE SOCIAL IMPACT BUSINESS IDEAS TOOK PLACE IN MILAN

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

BEST INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR SOCIAL: THE ITALIAN EDITION OF “GLOBAL SOCIAL VENTURE COMPETITION” AT THE START

 

•              During the seven editions 100 startups have been formed and more than 350 investors attended.

•              The event was organized by Intesa Sanpaolo Start-Up Initiative in cooperation with Alta Scuola Impresa e Società dell’Università Cattolica di Milano (ALTIS), Italeaf, Associazione ProSpera e U-Start.

 

 

Milan, February 25th 2015 – The best innovative high social impact ideas meet an audience of potential investors: it’s the Italian stage of the “Global Social Venture Competition” (GSVC), the International Award conceived by the University of Berkeley to encourage and develop business ideas with a strong social significance and environmental impact.

 

In the Italian tour the global contest for young companies, whose business ideas are based on the economic, social and environmental sustainability, uses the format developed by StartUp Initiative, i.e. the Intesa Sanpaolo platform which selects promising high-tech startups, coaches them and connects them with financial and corporate investors.

 

In Italy the key player of the competition is Alta Scuola Impresa e Società (ALTIS) of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, a partner in this venture since 2008, which liaises with Associazione ProSpera, the boutique advisory firm U-Start and Italeaf, first company builder listed on the Nasdaq First North of the Stockholm Stock Exchange, which is also the main sponsor of GSVC.

 

The event’s goal is to encourage the meeting of innovative businesses and an audience of investors that includes investment funds, Business Angels, Venture Capital, institutions, companies and firms.

The 7 startups that took part in the event were chosen from among the 85 business projects presented.

 

The selection criteria used considered both its potential social impact and the idea’s business potential.

 

At the end of the arena meeting, the two top startups are awarded:

•              direct access to GSVC’s Global Finals in Berkeley (USA);

•              partial tuition (75%) for the ALTIS “SMEs and competitiveness” Executive Master;

•              direct access to the U-Start Conference Milan 2015 and l’accesso alla U-Start Conference Milan 2015 e ability to have visibility to events and on the platform U-Start;

•              the ability to use the "visibility package" offered to Create Value (www.crearevalore.it)

 

Some special awards in the operational areas were also assigned as follows:

•              Best idea in the area of “Green and Circular Economy”, 1 year of incubation within Italeaf and consulting for business development at the facilities of the province of Terni and the eco-industrial park of Nera Montoro (TR);

•              Best idea in the area of “Health”, 6 months of incubation and consulting for business development within Fondazione Filarete;

•              Best idea in the area of “Bioeconomy”, 6 months of incubation within Parco Tecnologico Padano and consulting for business development within business incubator Alimenta;

•              Best idea  in the area of “ICT”, U-Start package up for grabs for the top two finishers;

•              Best idea from the Milan area, a StartMiUP virtual membership of 6 month.

 

All the finalists will have access to free membership for a year on the www.u-start.biz platform.

 

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Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) was founded in 1999 by the HAAS School of Business of Berkeley. The goal of this initiative, created in partnership with the London Business School, the Columbia Business School, the Indiana School of Business, the ESSEC Business School and Thammasat University is aimed at encouraging the development of new business and startup ideas with strong social and environmental impacts. From its inception to the present day GSVC has confirmed itself as being the only competition of this type at a worldwide level that is aimed at focusing attention in the field of a socially based entrepreneurship.

 

The StartUp Initiative is the international acceleration platform developed by Italy’s leading bank Intesa Sanpaolo, which selects promising high-tech startups, coaches them and connects them with financial and corporate investors. Since its inception in 2009, the program has developed a strong track record: 74 investment forums in 6 countries (IT, UK, US, FR, DE, IL) across 9 technology cluster and industries (Digital & Mobile; Biotech & Healthcare; Cleantech; Nanotech & Materials; Social Ventures; FoodTech; Fashion & Design; Transportation; Smart Building & Construction), matching over 530 startups and growing companies with about 6.400 investors, corporations and players of the innovation ecosystem. Our alumni went on to raise over 55 M€ in funding.

 

 

For further information:

 

Intesa Sanpaolo

Media Corporate & Investment Banking and International Media

+39 02/87962489

stampa@intesasanpaolo.com