TAKEOFF

Takeoff is the acceleration programme dedicated to startups that develop solutions and services in the aerospace and advanced hardware sectors, launched at the OGR Torino to boost the competitiveness of the entire country, starting from the academic and entrepreneurial excellence represented by Piemonte Region in these areas.

Takeoff is a joint initiative of promoters and investors including CDP Venture Capital, through the Accelerators Fund, Fondazione CRT, through the "Sviluppo e Crescita" operational branch and UniCredit. The project also involves Plug and Play Tech Center, as co-investor and operational manager of the acceleration programme, and OGR Torino, in as innovation & networking partner. Unione Industriali Torino is institutional partner, Leonardo Group corporate partner, which will provide start-ups with its distinctive industrial skills and technologies, acquired in the Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing sectors, throughout all stages of the programme.

With initial assets under management of over 21 million euro for acceleration investments and for the subsequent start-up growth steps, Takeoff will support the implementation and development of companies operating in aerospace, aeronautics, air mobility and advanced hardware, characterised by the application of artificial intelligence and Big Data to the manufacturing sector. There are numerous possible project options, including the technological development of satellites and the related software applications, space launchers, advanced and sustainable air mobility solutions, autonomous aircraft, data driven logistic services, as well as sensors, batteries, semiconductors, computing technologies, robotics and data centres.

The programme will select every year, for three years, up to 10 start-ups in the seed and pre-seed phase that will be able to access a 5-month acceleration programme structured by the project partners, which will guide them towards the definition of their business model by helping them to correctly identify the target market and the most suitable marketing strategy to achieve their objectives.

The best teams selected by the accelerator will also have access to further investments already allocated by the promoters of the initiative, so as to allow them to tap into the local industrial fabric and to strengthen the ecosystem in which the excellences operate in the sectors on which Takeoff focuses. 

Takeoff will be based at OGR Tech, a hub dedicated to business innovation and acceleration in which 11 programmes dedicated to the support of start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs are already underway in collaboration with national and international corporations and investors, and can be followed by participating start-ups in hybrid mode, both physically and remotely.

The call for the selection of the first 10 startups was open from today until 25 May on takeoffaccelerator.com. 

Tha fist batch will go from July to December 2022.