3DRap is pleased to announce its participation in SMAU Berlin 2017. This unique event helps showcase Italian excellence to investors and businesses in the German ecosystem.
Following the great success of our participation in SMAU Naples 2016 with Poly, the world’s first portable, multifunctional, battery-powered and biodegradable FDM 3D printer, we are once again taking part in one of the most important events on the national and international innovation scene.
SMAU Berlin, now in its third consecutive year, brings together several Italian regions with a selection of startups and incubators/accelerators. The program is as follows:
- June 14: a networking dinner at the Italian Embassy in Berlin, attended by institutional representatives from the participating regions, the startups selected by each region, and the German investors and corporations involved in the initiative (250 people from these groups attended this event in 2016);
- June 15: a full-day event at Palazzo Italia in Berlin, featuring matchmaking meetings and startup speed pitches for an audience of more than 150 German investors and corporations interested in connecting with the Italian startup ecosystem;
- June 16: a tour of Berlin’s incubators and accelerators, intended to encourage partnerships between them and the Italian ecosystem taking part in the initiative.
The official press release:
FROM LOCAL ECOSYSTEMS TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETS: SMAU BERLIN PARTICIPANTS PREPARE TO SHOWCASE THEIR STRENGTHS TO GERMAN INVESTORS AND BUSINESSES
In Berlin, Italy’s innovation ecosystem—with its startups, innovation, renewal and digitalization projects, international exchange and cross-pollination initiatives, and activities promoting and developing digital skills—is preparing to cross national borders and use innovation to showcase its strengths to an audience of international businesses and investors Milan, May 31. The third edition of Smau Berlin |Italy Restarts Up in Berlin, scheduled for June 14, 15 and 16, shows that engaging with international markets—particularly Germany, the leading destination for Italian exports—is a priority. This is evident from the participation of leading figures in Italy’s innovation landscape, including the Apple iOS Developer Academy in Naples, Città della Scienza, Digital Magics, Future Food Institute, Giffoni Innovation Hub, H-Farm and Invitalia Ventures; companies such as Aruba, Cisco Italia and Intel Italia; and regional innovation ecosystems. Smau‘s work to discover these centers of excellence began locally, through its regional events. It is now ready to present them internationally at Smau Berlin and, later, at its annual event in Milan in October.
Among those taking part in the three-day Berlin event is Agostino Santoni, CEO of Cisco Italia, who emphasizes: “SMAU Berlin is an important opportunity to showcase beyond our borders a growing innovation ecosystem that is embracing digital technology to further strengthen the areas of excellence that distinguish us, from food and agriculture to manufacturing. A year and a half ago, we committed to accelerating digitalization in Italy with Digitaliani, a major investment plan whose pillars include the development of new models of collaboration and co-innovation for a comprehensive technological transformation of our country. Through this plan, we are helping to create a path that is Italian but international at the same time, and in Berlin we will have the opportunity to tell its story.” Digitaliani will be one of many projects presented during the three-day Berlin event: a model of collaboration and technological transformation that began in Italy and is now poised to become international.
Open Innovation applied to Industry 4.0 will be addressed by Maurizio Riva, Country Manager of Intel Italia. He will highlight Intel’s role as a facilitator in helping companies launch innovation processes, particularly in Industry 4.0, and explain how startups play a fundamental role in bringing new skills into established companies.
Speaking on digital skills development and training will be Giorgio Ventre, Scientific Director of the iOS Developer Academy, Apple’s first Developer Academy. He states: “The Developer Academy of Apple and the University of Naples Federico II was created to attract talent from across Europe and train them to design and develop the applications of the future, making an important contribution to the global digital ecosystem. SMAU Berlin is the ideal place to meet innovators and digital companies, establish partnerships and introduce our talent to Europe.”
With a view to strengthening its position beyond Italy and providing the international ecosystem with the most effective technological tools and know-how for growth and development, Stefano Sordi, Chief Marketing Officer of Aruba, says: “Taking part in an international event such as Smau Berlin is an important opportunity for Aruba to strengthen its position in international markets through cloud services that can be used globally. We will meet with the international innovation ecosystem to show startups in particular what an incredible boost the cloud can give their development. We will do this by introducing them to ‘We START you UP,’ a program created with the primary goal of providing the know-how and tools needed to ensure technology is no longer an obstacle that slows down a potentially explosive business model.”
Regional innovation ecosystems will also be present at Smau Berlin to introduce their startups, sign international exchange agreements and present their efforts to attract investment to their regions. The Campania Region will attend with the aim of building new international relationships and presenting the Erasmus Startup project. This project supports young entrepreneurs who want to acquire skills to grow their business projects through a stay of 1 to 6 months at international incubators and companies. The region will be joined by a selection of local startups, as will the Liguria Region, the Emilia-Romagna Region, Marche, Basilicata and Valle d’Aosta.
At Palazzo Italia on June 15, 50 innovations in strategic sectors of the Italian economy will be presented to German and international investors and businesses through speed pitches, one-to-one meetings and an exhibition area. They span agrifood, fashion and design, creative industries and tourism, as well as Industry 4.0 and FinTech: from a 3D printer that is itself printed with a 3D printer using biodegradable material, presented by the Avellino startup 3Drap, to the innovative Piacenza startup BYentO, which breeds various insect species through a production and commercial network inspired by franchising to obtain molecules of agronomic, chemical and industrial interest. Precision agriculture will be discussed with the startup Omica, and Agriopendata with EZ Lab, the Padua startup selected as one of the 10 companies admitted to Thrive AgTech in 2017. Thrive AgTech is a leading global accelerator for agritech and smart food, and in Berlin EZ Lab will present “WINE Blockchain,” the first digital solution for tracing and certifying the wine production chain, developed in collaboration with Ernst & Young Italia. Automotive innovation will be discussed with Guarnieri Solutions, a Genoa startup that has developed Loki Car, a vehicle alarm device designed and built to address issues such as the cloning of remote-control access codes and radio-frequency jammers that prevent them from working. Health and wellness will be covered by Leafgreen, a startup from Marche that makes cosmetics from organic plants using a patented high-tech process that incorporates fresh herbs or flowers and lysates from biofermentation into the product. This process enables the startup to obtain a certified organic product with strong cosmetic functionality and aromatherapeutic properties. There will also be startups using virtual reality to promote Italy, such as Immensive, a Caserta startup that develops immersive virtual reality applications for a range of sectors, including cultural heritage and tourism, to showcase cultural assets and sites of interest. Other startups promote and sell “Made in Italy” fashion, including Zakeke by Futurenext, a Milan startup whose innovative cloud platform allows e-commerce portal operators and merchants to integrate a 360° product configurator, in 2D and 3D, into their systems. This gives customers the opportunity to customize products for sale ‘live’ through a simple, fast interface. Another is Codingando, a Matera startup that develops cloud software, apps, e-commerce solutions and custom code. It created SellingDoc, the only software for clothing businesses that want to manage their operations through a single, multilevel, multiuser cloud solution, selling online and offline in sync while making the most of marketplaces and a next-generation management system.
