The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) relaunches Italian presence in North America by presenting Innov.it, the new Innovation and Culture Hub in San Francisco.
The day, dedicated to initiatives of national importance, opened with an Innovation Talk by the Piemonte Agency for Investments, Export and Tourism (Ceipiemonte), with President Dario Peirone, the Regional Minister for Internationalization Fabrizio Ricca, and Italdesign CEO Antonio Casu. Afterwards, before taking center stage for a long pitch session moderated by journalist Luca Barbieri, the startups in the pavilion, together with an audience of professionals, listened to an Innovation Talk on the topic of ”The New Italian Manufacturing”. Professor Carlo Bagnoli, lecturer at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice and director of the VeniSIA accelerator, talked with three representatives of Italian manufacturing innovation: Barbara Sala, CEO of the innovative SME Delcon, a company from Bergamo engaged in the biomedical sector that developed the “Milano” blood scale in partnership with the New York Blood Center, winner of the Compasso d’Oro design award; Enrico Zobele, President and CEO of Everel Group, a components company that has created an Open Innovation center; Mario Cammarota, R&D manager of Unox.
Introduced by an initial address by Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles Silvia Chiave, with Trade Commissioner of ITA New York and Executive Director for the US Antonino Laspina, and a speech by business futurist Alberto Mattiello, the Italian Investor Night then enlivened Eureka Park with a “Spritz&Pitch” aperitivo that brought together international innovators and investors in an important networking opportunity.
In addition to the big brands in the exhibits in the main hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, 20 countries around the world have a dedicated pavilion in Eureka Park. The Italian Pavilion is hosting a varied and diverse delegation: a startup that has designed a smartphone cover displaying personalized graphics (so users change the graphics, not the whole cover); football shin pads fitted with sensors that map the wearer’s actions and moves; a wearable air purifier; a biometric unlocking device that uses brainwaves; and numerous artificial intelligence systems to process large quantities of data, discovering causal links, formulating behavioral predictions or finding the best way to save energy.
