Agenda day 1

Day 1 | June 26

Start-ups and Corporate Venture

Startuppers will present their experience by sharing with us success stories and what they feel the most important support they received during the early days of their companies to reach the current stage. The take home message from start upper will be what really matter when you start a company to survive and scale.

Corporate ventures will share with us what they are looking for in research groups and young companies to invest in and what they are expecting after their investment.

There will be also presentations to show what governmental agencies are doing to support innovation and new entrepreneurial initiatives, how a start-up can help other start-ups offering services, how deep-tech can help sustainability.

Preview | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

8:45 – 9:15
Registration and Welcome Coffee

9:15

Riccardo Zucchi

Rector, University of Pisa

Giuseppe Iannaccone

Deputy Rector, University of Pisa

Corrado Priami

Rector’s Delegate for Research Exploitation and New Entrepreneurial Initiatives, University of Pisa

Chairperson: Corrado Priami

9:30

Luca Foschini

President and CEO, Sage Bionetworks

Dr. Luca Foschini is the President and CEO of Sage Bionetworks. Prior to this role, he co-founded and served as Chief Data Scientist at Evidation for 10 years. During his time at Evidation, Dr. Foschini led a team of over 50 health data scientists and shaped the role and requirements for the health data scientist profession. He also led Evidation’s research and development efforts and worked on projects funded by organizations such as NIH, DARPA, and BARDA. Dr. Foschini collaborated with top biopharma companies to provide technology and methodology for collecting and analyzing person- generated health data (PGHD) from sources such as smartphones and wearables in order to measure human health

Dr. Foschini’s research in the past decade has focused on the emerging field of digital medicine, particularly in the areas of data collection and analysis methodology. He has co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and given talks at the FDA, NIH, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on topics including machine learning in healthcare, continuous health monitoring, and privacy in high-dimensional data.

9:55

Electra Coutsoftides

CEO and Co-founder Xworks

A passionate and driven individual with a vision for a waste-free planet. I have a deep understanding of the impact of waste on our environment, and I am dedicated to using technology to drive intelligent decisions and achieve net-zero waste.

With over 10 years of experience in the waste management industry, I am focusing on using advanced technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of recycling and waste management processes. I have a track record of implementing innovative solutions that have resulted in significant cost savings and waste reduction for my clients.

I am particularly interested in using data and analytics to make informed decisions about waste management. I believe that by collecting and analysing data on waste streams, we can identify opportunities to improve recycling rates, minimise waste, and reduce costs.

Also passionate about educating others about the importance of sustainable waste management. I am committed to sharing my knowledge and experience with others in the hopes of building a more sustainable future for our planet.

I am excited about the future and the opportunities that lie ahead for waste management and recycling. I am determined to play a leading role in creating a waste-free planet through the use of technology-driven intelligent decisions, and I am always looking for new and innovative ways to achieve this goal.

10:20

Ugo Faraguna

Associate Professor of Physiology University of Pisa, Chairman and Founder SleepActa

Ugo Faraguna, born in Trieste in 1979, is an Associate Professor of Physiology at the School of Medicine of the University of Pisa. His research interests lie within the field of neuroscience, with a particular focus on the homeostatic processes regulating the sleep-wake cycle.

He earned his degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Pisa, and then continued his studies at the Center for Sleep and Consciousness led by Prof. Tononi in Madison-Wisconsin, USA where he worked between 2005 and 2012. He has published in the most prestigious neuroscience journals (including Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Journal of Neuroscience).

As a former Medical and PhD Student of the Sant’Anna School, he is now President of its Alumni Association. Since 2019, he has been the Delegate of the Rector of the University of Pisa for the Puteano College Foundation.

In 2017 he founded Sleepacta s.r.l, a spinoff company of the University of Pisa of which he has been CEO until 2021, and is now Chairman. Sleepacta focuses on the medical diagnosis of sleep disorders through the use of non-invasive wearable devices and the application of validated and certified machine learning algorithms.

10:45
Coffee Break

Chairperson: Chiara Galletti

11:40

Daniele Mazzei

Associate Professor of Computer Science University of Pisa, CPO and Co-founder Zerynth

Daniele Mazzei is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pisa. His research focuses on Artificial Intelligence for Industrial Internet of Things, knowledge extraction from industrial data, and social and empathic human-machine/human-robot interaction. Since 2008, he has participated as a leading researcher or principal investigator in several industrial and international research projects, demonstrating extensive experience in this field. 
Mazzei is a co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Zerynth, a UNIPI spinoff that produces an industrial AI + IoT platform dedicated to streamlining production processes. Zerynth has successfully completed two investment rounds, raising over 7 million Euros and becoming one of the most funded Italian IoT companies by venture capital funds. 

12:05

Davide Morelli

VP of AI Healios and co-founder Bio-Beats

Davide has a background in Computer Science (PhD in Pisa) and Biomedical Engineering (DPhil at Oxford). He founded BioBeats, a London based startup that used passively collected data from wearable devices to estimate the psychological and physiological well being of users. He acted as Chief Technical Office, and grew the engineering and data science team in Pisa (BioBeats was a spinoff of the University of Pisa). BioBeats was sold to Huma Therapeutics Ltd in 2020, and Davide acted as Director of Data Science and Machine Learning until February 2023, when he left Huma to take the role of VP of AI at Healios, a scale up based in London that uses AI to support the diagnosis of autism in children and young adults.

12:30

Giuseppe Prisco

Co-founder MMI

Giuseppe is retired from business and lives fully with his family, focusing on cultivatin an authentic way of life. In his work life, as a robotics engineer, he is particularly proud of having co-invented a number of surgical robots which have treated millions of patients, enabling improved treatments and outcomes, such as the Symani Surgical System ™ for Microsurgery, the Ion System ™ for Broncoscopy, the daVinci Single Port ™ system for Minimally Invasive Laparoscopy and the daVinci Si ™. Realising that the Symani Surgical System ™ invented in Pisa might not have ever developed to the point of treating patients without a full commercial enterprise behind it, Giuseppe extended himself from inventor to the role of catalyst, co-founder and CEO of Medical MicroInstruments Inc.

For six years, Giuseppe experienced the mind-boggling world of startup companies, investors, international scale up, finance and finally successfully brought the Symani to international markets.

12:55
Buffet

Chairperson: Marco Macchia

14:00

Roberto Zanco

Head of Alternative Illiquid Investments, Kairos Partners SGR

Specialized in Private Equity and Venture Capital, he was Founder and Managing Partner of RedSeed Ventures an Italian based venture capital investment company, after an experience in Quadrivio Group. During his career, he completed over 30 investments in Private Equity and Venture Capital. He currently sits on the Boards of Directors of multiple high-tech start-ups and SMEs.

From April 2021 all RedSeed Ventures activities are part of Kairos Partners SGR where Roberto is currently Head of Alternative Illiquid Investments.
Roberto is also a Co-Founder and Director of Chora Media, one of the biggest podcast companies in Europe. In 2021 Chora Media as acquired 100% of Will Media. Roberto sits in the board of booth the companies.

Graduate cum laude in Economics and Statistics from the Ca ‘Foscari University of Venice and MBA from the University of Iowa.

14:25

Bernardino D’Auria

Research Project Enhancement Manager, Invitalia

Bernardino d’Auria, Head of the Research Enhancement Unit in Invitalia – the Italian National Agency for Inward Investment and Economic Development- has a long-term experience as to subsidized financing, scientific knowledge transfer and business development projects coordinating the implementation of specific initiatives fostering entrepreneurial and research activities and the progress of innovation ecosystems. He is in charge of Invitalia’s public authorities support services for the Ministry of University and Research as to implementing National and EU funding Programmes including the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

14:50

Piergiorgio Grossi

CIO, Credem Banca

After spending 10+ years in F1 at Ferrari and 3 years at Ducati, the Italian Iconic bikes brand, as CIO and Digital Transformation Officer, Piergiorgio is now serving as Chief Innovation Officer at Credem Banca.

Piergiorgio has deep experience in managing innovative products and services, complex projects and ICT departments, mixing heterogeneous technologies and processes, sourcing strategies and team leading, innovation, design and business definition skills. He’s been involved in innovation, management and digital activities for many years, basically doing his best to get out of his comfort zone.

He has a previous experience as VP of Innovation at Iconsulting doing big data/business intelligence and analytics consulting for agile projects and working with large international companies.

15:15

Giacomo Benedetto Silvestri

Chairman, Eniverse Ventures and Head of Innovation Ecosystems Eni

Giacomo Silvestri serves as Chairman of Eniverse Ventures, the venture builder vehicle of Eni. Beside this role, he is responsible in Eni to build innovation ecosystems to shape, drive and accelerate company innovation and strategic transformation. Within Eni, he was former Group Head of Digital where he led digital agenda and Eni Digital Factory where sits data scientists, scrum and experience design team.

Prior to joining Eni, Giacomo was Global Head of Organization, Strategic Workforce Planning & Change Management in Generali Insurance Group, and formerly Partner at the Boston Consulting Group.

15:40

Sabrina Boifava

UniCredit Start Lab

Sabrina has 30 years of experience in banking and consultancy companies in areas such as Research, Project Management, Communication & Marketing, Commercial Strategies & Service Models and Open Innovation.

She is now part of UniCredit Start Lab, a business platform dedicated to startups and innovative SMEs. She follows the scouting, evaluation and selection of the best tech innovative projects, and the design and implementation of initiatives dedicated to their development, such as mentorship, managerial training, investor days and structured presentations to selected investors, business matching activities with corporate clients looking for innovative solutions for industrial or commercial partnership or M&A purposes, banking services and special advisory initiatives.

16:05
Coffee Break

16:30 to 17:30
Panel Discussion

Alessio
Cavicchi

Rector’s Delegate for the Promotion of Entrepreneurial Culture and Innovation, University of Pisa

Electra
Coutsoftides

CEO and Co-founder, Xworks

Franco Prestigiacomo

CEO, Xenon Private Equity

Corrado
Ruffini

Director Emeritus, McKinsey & Company

Marco
Cattaneo

Editor in Chief
at Le Scienze and National Geographic Italy

Moderator

Preview | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4