MedTech, IoT, and the new frontiers in artificial intelligence. The 50 startups in the Italian Pavilion at CES 2023. Alessandra Rainaldi, Trade Commissioner at the Italian Trade Agency – Los Angeles Office: “We bring a mature and growing ecosystem, full of outstanding solutions for international markets”

A biometric unlocking device that uses brainwaves, an “invisible mask” that purifies the air breathed by the wearer, and dozens of AI systems to optimise the management of energy from renewable sources, urban planning, and marketing performance. Technologies that will be the main attractions in the Italian Pavilion at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, the world’s leading tech event, 5-8 January 2023.

Italy’s presence will let people experience first-hand the strategy of the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) in support of Italian innovation and that brings together support and promotion, services and assistance: 50 startups will attend from all the leading Italian technology sectors; events will focus on the innovation support system and give voice to the major industries; and there will be a presentation of the new Innovation Hub, Innovit, recently opened in San Francisco. The mission’s motto is “A taste of Italian innovation“: a flavour of what Italy can deliver to investors and partners abroad and that, in the US, attendees will be able to see for themselves at CES.

“Again this year, we are taking the Italian ecosystem to the industry’s most important event worldwide”, explains Alessandra Rainaldi, Trade Commissioner at the Italian Trade Agency – Los Angeles Office. “An ecosystem that is now mature and that in 2022, exactly 10 years after its official beginnings with the Startup Act, has registered nearly 14,000 innovative startups and, in 2022, will reach 2 billion in investments. We export competitive technological manufacturing, which complements our country’s already well-established reputation for culture. It’s not by chance that the symbol of Innovit is the “Vitruchip”, the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, re-envisioned by taking stylistic elements from a microchip: a perfectly harmonious marriage of science and art, technology and culture, which still today epitomises our country.”

CES 2023

Opening on 5 January in Las Vegas, CES 2023 will be considerably larger than in 2022: 186,000 square metres of exhibition space, up by 50%, and 2,400 exhibitors, 1000 more than last year, ready to welcome the more than 100,000 expected attendees over the expo’s 4 days. This year’s exhibition will look at technology that is increasingly focused on human rights, and for the first time will introduce a product category called Web3, which links blockchain and metaverse technologies.

The Italian Pavilion

The Italian Pavilion is hosting a varied and diverse delegation: a startup that has designed a smartphone cover displaying personalised graphics (so users change the graphics, not the whole cover); soccer 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 behavioural predictions or finding the best way to save energy.

There will be 51 startups attending, of which 9 are in the Marche Region‘s delegations, and 10 are from Sardinia. During CES, as well as pitches from all the startups, the pavilion will host in its internal arena panels of experts on various sectors, including: the opportunities for startups offered by Horizon Europe, with a dedicated slot on January 5; the introduction of European Innovation Night; smart manufacturing; and automotive (with the PoliMOVE team from the Politecnico di Milano taking part and due to compete in the Autonomous Indy Challenge at CES on January 7). On January 6 a press conference is scheduled for late afternoon, followed by the Italian Investor Night, an opportunity for international investors to network with Italian businesses.

Opportunities

Recent business opportunities in North America for innovative Italian companies include INNOV.IT, the world’s first Italian Innovation and Culture Hub. Innov.it recently opened in San Francisco, at 710, Sansome Street, a short way from the city’s Italian quarter. With its Innovation Hub, it is a space that brings together initiatives that support Italian technological, scientific, and innovative ecosystems, such as the promotion of Italian culture and language by the Italian Cultural Institute, and the internationalisation of Italian companies by the Italian Trade Agency. Promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, together with the Embassy of Italy in Washington and the Italian Consulate General in San Francisco, Innov.it is a real outpost for Italian innovation in the heart of Silicon Valley, a global centre of gravity for the tech industry. Specifically, the INNOV.IT Innovation Hub, managed over the next four years by the Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Entopan Innovation, comprises areas for events, co-working spaces and offices that host training, public relations activities and business matching with companies and American investors.

In 2022, besides INNOV.IT, ITA also launched the third Global Startup Program, an initiative offering 100 Italian startups a chance to take part in an 8-week acceleration or incubation programme in strategic locations abroad for the local markets. The programme involved 12 cities in 9 countries, with 4 in the US (New York, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco), and the rest in France, UK, Germany, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Japan, China, and Singapore.

A further opportunity for businesses and startups was the partnership between ITA and SMAU, a major Italian network for innovation. This led to the organisation of “Italy RestartsUp” in Berlin, London, and Paris, three opportunities for networking between Italian startups and the drivers of European innovation.