Speed MI Up: Bocconi, Chamber of Commerce and City of Milan Join Forces to Develop an Incubator for Start-Ups and Professionals
ACCELERATING BUSINESS GROWTH THROUGH TRAINING AND TUTORING, WHILE ATTRACTING ENTREPRENEURIAL TALENT AND STIMULATING EMPLOYMENT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF SPEED MI UP. ITS FIRST COMPETITION WAS LAUNCHED ON JANUARY 29Targeted training, tutoring, aid to business development. These are among the services which new firms and young professionals will be able to benefit from in the newly- launched incubator. Their nationality doesn’t matter; what matters is that they intend to set up their strategic headquarters in Milan. The services will be provided by Speed MI Up – Officina di imprese e professioni [Speed MI Up – Workshop for companies and professions], the incubator jointly promoted by the University, the Milan Chamber of Commerce and the City of Milan, which was recently presented at Bocconi University. At the presentation, Bocconi was represented by its new Rector, Andrea Sironi, and its Chief Executive, Bruno Pavesi, the Milan Chamber of Commerce was represented by its Secretary General, Pier Andrea Chevallard, while the City of Milan was represented by the Councillor for Labor, Economic Development, University and Research, Cristina Tajani. Alberto Meomartini spoke as President of the Speed MI Up Consortium, constituted by Bocconi and the Chamber of Commerce.
Until March 29, interested entrepreneurs and professionals can submit their applications at www.speedmiup.it for the first-year competition, which will choose five firms and ten professionals. Each year two competitions will be held, for a total of 10 start-ups and 20 registered professionals. They will be hosted by the incubator for a maximum of two years, which translates into a total of 20 start-up companies and 40 professionals simultaneously present in the incubator when the project’s launch is completed.
Speed MI Up is an initiative born out of the Accord for the Support of Employment and Entrepreneurship signed by the Milan Chamber of Commerce and the City of Milan. The Consortium created by Bocconi and the Chamber takes care of its implementation.
An incubator that specializes in the development of business skills and managerial capabilities, Speed MI Up is aimed at attracting entrepreneurial talent, Italian and non, while creating jobs in Milan and its hinterland. It will leverage Bocconi’s higher education expertise and the Chamber’s consulting resources to accelerate the growth of innovative firms and professionals alike.
The project is about nurturing firms and professionals for maximum of two years in spaces provided by Università Bocconi, for the first three months devoted to education and tutoring, and by the City of Milan (via Bottego and via Cilea) for the remaining time period. The Chamber of Commerce will make its Giureconsulti Palace offices available for purposes of business representation.
Each firm will be endowed with: an ad hoc advisory board comprising experts in the business area of choice; a cooperative social networking platform, an ERP online system, a virtual secretary; assistance in access to subsidized loans; services concerning innovation, R&D and internationalization supplied by specialized agencies of the Chamber of Commerce; and support to business development by Bocconi’s research centers.
An innovative and solid business idea, localization of the company in either Milan or its Province, and a college degree are characteristics that both entrepreneurs and professionals must have in order to take part in Speed MI Up competitions. Firms are expected to have an international outlook, while professionals must be less than 35 years old. For the first competition, business actors in either communications or company services are called to participate.
“With Speed MI Up”, said Bocconi Rector Andrea Sironi, “the University intends to bring its knowledge to bear on reality, by disseminating it across a wide audience, the entire Milanese community in this case, and by contributing to local development”.
“The focus of the initiative is not so much the emphasis on infrastructural services provided, which are nevertheless of the highest quality, but the skills in business and management imparted, which will enable these new firms to develop, grow, and create jobs,” the University’s chief executive, Bruno Pavesi, added.
“The Speed MI Up project is an example of the satisfactory results that can be achieved when institutions collaborate in a constructive and farsighted way,” said Pier Andrea Chevallard, secretary general of the Milan Chamber of Commerce. “This new tool aims to support entrepreneurs and professionals in the initial, and most critical, phase of their activity. It is through initiatives like Speed MI Up, which are also capable of attracting entrepreneurial talent from abroad, that we can react to the crisis effectively and lay the foundations for the return to growth”.
“The new Speed MI Up incubator is an important project for the Mayor and his administration, which considers the birth of innovative firms a strategic priority to sustain economic development and employment of young people,” said City Councillor Cristina Tajani. “The project will come alive in municipal spaces restructured with this aim in mind, and is part of an overall strategy based on business creation, innovation, and the transfer of technology. The City collaborates with Milan’s universities and other institutions, first of all the Chamber of Commerce: we do believe that the cooperation between public and private actors is the best way to strengthen the economic potential and attractiveness of our metropolitan area, especially with respect to younger generations”.
Alberto Meomartini, president of the Speed MI Up Consortium, and vice president of the Milan Chamber of Commerce, stated that: “The Chamber of Commerce is unwavering in its commitment to support young people and their innovative ideas, which are a major competitive asset for our economic system. Every day Milan renews its entrepreneurial vocation, by leveraging the creativity, innovativeness, and market adaptability of its human capital. Speed MI Up is a new infrastructure made available to firms, beginning with startups and young professionals”.
by Fabio Todesco
Translated by Alex Foti
