Italy, a country renowned for creating masterpieces in art and culture, as well as for its relentless innovation, marks another presence at the upcoming CES in Las Vegas, featuring 50 innovative Italian startups in a pavilion organized by the Italian Trade Agency (ITA), the governmental entity responsible for promoting and internationalizing Italian companies abroad.
“Italy, where else?” is the slogan for this year’s mission at CES, which aims to showcase a nation that is, by its very nature, forward-looking, yet firmly rooted in its illustrious past.
“Technological innovation represents the main path for achieving a stable and competitive economic growth model for Italy. Our country is investing more and more in the ecosystem of innovation both by improving the regulatory framework and strengthening strategic partnerships, especially in the US. Innovation in Italy is a keyword and reflects the result of intellects: not only AI but also ‘authentic intelligence’, the kind that is cross-disciplinary and in Italy is deeply rooted in culture and the arts. Italy, the cradle of the Renaissance and of the Scientific Revolution, is the place where creativity and technology come together to design the future. ITA works to help our innovators grow by creating synergies with international markets, and CES is crucial to develop this strategy” commented Alessandra Rainaldi, Italian Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles.
At CES 2024, in the heart of Eureka Park, the Italian Pavilion will be home for 50 startups making up the Italian delegation, covering an area of 6,600 square feet. The Pavilion is organized by ITA in partnership with national research organization Area Science Park and Sardinia Region.
The Italian startups’ delegation will include solutions to smarter and future-proof homes and cities, thanks to automation, advanced sensors, and new ways of conceiving mobility, from air logistics to modular public road transport. AI diagnosing cancer by calculating probabilities, a surface coating that purifies air and reduces smog, as well as augmented and virtual reality applications for learning and studying cultural heritage will be presented. Also, Web3 and blockchain for tracking supply chains, document management, and marketing. Last but not least, innovations in digital health, and support for motor and digital accessibility: from virtual biopsy of bone architecture to self-driving wheelchairs for airports.
The startups: 3DNextech, AI4IV, Aindo, Aitem, Alba Robot, Alert-Genius, ARIA Sensing, ArtCentrica, Athics, Blockchain Italia, BrainWaves, Certy, Coderblock, Contents, Develop-Players, Domethics (CES Innovation Awards 2024 Honoree), EZ Lab Blockchain Solutions, Fifth Ingenium, Flywallet, Ganiga, Genuino, Hexagro, Innoitaly, Innova, It’s Prodigy, Kintana, Levante, Light On Your Side by Biovitae, M2Test, MyCulture, NExT, Partitalia, Powandgo, Protom Robotics, REair, SAM, Searcode, Skyproxima, SnapAll, Sport Business Lab Consultancy, Sunspeker, Tecnojest, The Meter, The Nemesis, The Thinking Clouds, TMP Group, Travel Verse, Truesense, Visual Note, Vitrum Design.
The Italian pavilion at CES 2024 is built around Arena ITALIA that will be animated by thematic panels, with some of the main stakeholders in the Italian innovation ecosystem joining, as well as US and European business partners. All startups will have the opportunity to tell their stories to the audience of visitors at Eureka Park in dedicated pitching sessions.
On January 9th at 1.15 pm the ribbon-cutting ceremony with CTA President Gary Shapiro, the Italian Consul general in Los Angeles Raffaella Valentini and the ITA Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles Alessandra Rainaldi, will be followed by the “Spritz&Pitch” networking lunch gathering hundreds of industry attendees, international investors and innovators. On the same day, Arena Italia will become the ‘Home of European Innovation’ with a fireside chat featuring President of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Jean David Malo taking center stage. The schedule also features an address by Daniele Pes, Head of Innovation at Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (Italian Railways), unveiling the group’s international open innovation strategy, a panel on the best practices on artificial intelligence in Italy, an in-depth discussion on female entrepreneurship with Prospera Women, and a keynote speech exploring the future of television in the era of AI-powered recommendation models.
2023 has been a year of full activity for ITA in terms of opportunities for Italian innovative SME’s and startups. First and foremost, the launch of the fourth edition of the Global Startup Program, which offers 70 Italian startups the chance to participate in an 8-week acceleration program in 6 foreign locations (US, South Korea, Germany, Japan, UK, Singapore).
ITA also launched two new initiatives in the United States this year, both at Innovit, the new Italian Innovation and Culture Hub in San Francisco: Smau San Francisco, a new stop for the roadshow of one of most representative italian innovation ecosystems, hosting more than 40 Italian startups and some of the biggest Italian corporations (Enel, Eni, Edison, Intesa Sanpaolo, Snam, Terna) face to face with tech giants in Silicon Valley such as Apple, Amazon, Meta; and the “Italian Women in Silicon Valley” conference, organized in collaboration with Prospera Women, to promote female entrepreneurship in the tech field.
For Innovit, 2023 was the first year of full operation after its inauguration in the fall of 2022. A project promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in San Francisco, in 2023 Innovit launched four acceleration programs aimed at growth in the US market targeting nearly 100 companies, including startups, scaleups and innovative SMEs, belonging to four sectors: AI; IoT, Robotics and Cybersecurity; Climate Tech and Agrifood Tech; Space Economy.
