Rome, 30 November 2020 – The Technology Transfer Fund of CDP Venture Capital SGR - Fondo Nazionale Innovazione will be up and running as of today. With an initial amount of 150 million euro of assets under management, the Fund will support the creation and development of so-called deep tech startups, coming from selected research fields and with broad prospects for industrial development. 

Led by Claudia Pingue, the Fund will focus on some scientific and technological research areas that are particularly relevant for Italy and promising from a Venture Capital perspective. In these areas, it will enter into agreements with leading universities and research centres to finance the initial life cycle stages of the startups and will launch the operations of new managers of specialised vertical funds.

Therefore, through a mix of direct and indirect investments, the Technology Transfer Fund acts as a primary player to bridge the skills and capital gap between research and the market with the ultimate aim of creating new generations of successful entrepreneurs and qualified and recognised investors.

“The Fund’s challenge will be to enhance the best technological skills, inventions, creativity and talent, which arise within Italian research centres and university systems, enhancing their entrepreneurial skills and providing a breeding ground for the collaboration with consolidated industrial entities”, comments Francesca Bria, President of CDP Venture Capital SGR - Fondo Nazionale Innovazione. “From the point of view of research, Italy is at the forefront and ranks 8th worldwide in terms of the number of scientific publications and the number of researchers, and 10th in terms of the number of patents filed with the EPO [1] . However, when it comes to translating scientific progress into innovation, our country is not always able to achieve satisfactory results. Through this Fund, in synergetic collaboration with universities and research centres, we enhance our scientific heritage to increase the level of innovation and competitiveness of the Italian research and industrial system.”

[1] European Patent Office