Fondazione Cariplo helped make possible the Skydeck Berkeley Europe accelerator program to help European-based startups, Cariplo Factory's start-up chief Andrea Beretta said on Friday.
"Skydeck Berkeley Europe is a European accelerator programme founded through a partnership between Skydeck Berkeley, an accelerator at the US University of California, Cariplo Factory - Fondazione Cariplo's innovation hub- and Lendlease, one of the largest real estate developers," said Beretta.
Beretta was speaking during the Research Forum 2024 held in Milan on Thursday and Friday at Cariplo Factory's premises.
At the two-day event, 120 delegates from Europe's philanthropical organisations looked at ways to join forces also with the public and private sector to boost innovation and sustainbility and reduce inequality to strengthen communities.
Since it began in 2022, Skydeck Berkeley Europe has received 2,578 applications from all over the world. The programme has accompanied 36 startups in their growth - hailing from Argentina, Armenia, France, Germany, Israel and Italy to Mexico, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK and the US - with investments of 5.2 million euros.
The startups are in various fields including life science, aerospace, energy, industry 4.0, the circular economy and agrifood. Each startup has three mentors (two from Europe and one from the US), gets to take part in 55 workshops and has access to an international network of investors, according to Fondazione Cariplo's website.
The programme has raised over 4 million euros between external investors and grants, according to Fondazione Cariplo.
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