Fondazione Piemonte Innova & AKTANTIS : performance and innovation DRIVERS

I’m Silvana Sanfeliu Giaimo, responsible for the international collaboration development of Fondazione Piemonte Innova (FPI), not only managing the relations with European and international Clusters and organisations but also in charge of European projects. I’ve been working at FPI for more than 15 years, supporting the cluster members in their internationalisation strategies as well as the stakeholders in their innovation plans, in business opportunity assessment and technological evaluation for innovation projects. My technical background, I’m an electronic engineer from Universidad del Norte (Colombia) and have a post-graduate master’s in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Management from the Politecnico di Torino (Italy), and my multi-cultural experience, have provided me the tools and skills to carry out and enjoy my work, activating partnerships, coordinating European projects and supporting knowhow and methodology transfer with other countries. 

Fondazione Piemonte Innova (FPI) is a non-profit organisation for innovation and digitalisation, established with a wide partnership between public and private Regional and National actors. Its mission is to contribute to the regional and national competitiveness by accelerating companies that use technologies as a strategic development factor and supporting public and private institutions in planning and managing innovation processes. FPI facilitates the relations between companies, research centres and the policy makers and other stakeholders, both public and private, in order to create opportunities of collaboration for technology transfer, development of R&D projects, pilot and demonstration of solutions, adopting of innovative solution by public administrations, etc.  

FPI is a strategic partner of the regional and national institutions regarding the implementation of innovation and technologies in different areas of interest (such as smart cities, industry 4.0, etc.). Piemonte Innova coordinates the Regional ICT Innovation Cluster (Polo ICT), established in 2009 by the Piedmont Regional Government. Polo ICT is a network of more than 300 members (companies -mainly SMEs- and research institutions) with expertise on ICT and big data, Smart City and Communities, eHealth, Energy and environmental technologies, Industry 4.0., Electronics, Computer Science, Telecommunication, Depp tech, etc. FPI supports Polo ICT’s members in developing R&D projects and competencies, encourages industrial partnerships and strives to National and International networks, generating opportunities in the European context. At Regional level, FPI works together with the other 6 Regional Innovation Clusters in Sistema Poli (the network of Innovation Clusters in Piemonte), a project designed to accelerate technology transfer and foster collaboration across industries. By connecting key players in the innovation ecosystem, Sistema Poli strengthens competitiveness and drives sustainable growth in the region. 

Since 2012, FPI is also the coordinator of the Italian Technology Cluster for Smart Communities (SmartCommunitiesTech), established by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) and aimed at fostering and supporting the development and implementation of innovative models of social integration, to offer solutions to problems of urban and metropolitan scale. The cluster members include companies, research centers and academia as well as public administrations of different sizes throughout Italy.

AKTANTIS and FPI have known each other for several years, following the initiatives, activities and projects developed by each entity and expressing the interest in collaborating to create synergies and concrete results for their members. Both entities enable the competitiveness, innovation and digitalisation of their territories, which are similar, and so, specific collaborations related to support to SMEs have turn on the interest.

We are currently working on the DigiVillae project, funded by the Interreg ALCOTRA Programme. DigiVillae is a cooperation project between Italy and France which aims to support small Alpine and rural communities in their transition to a digital and sustainable future. These areas currently face many common challenges, including depopulation, limited access to services, poor digital connectivity and a lack of shared tools for local development.   

Together, FPI and Aktantis represent the SMEs interests and competences to support the smart villages in their digitalisation processes, both internal and for the territory. Their role is to enable the collaboration and matching of the different stakeholders of the ecosystem to contribute to the development of the territory. 

Through cross-border cooperation, DigiVillae will help make communities in the ALCOTRA area more connected, inclusive and resilient by promoting innovative and sustainable development in small municipalities. 

We think that this is just the beginning of our collaboration, we aim to co-develop projects on twin transition, especially for the small and medium entities of the territories and Europe. Working together to improve collaborations and knowledge transfer is key to both clusters.

I’m really glad that we were able to concretise our collaboration and hope that we continue working together in the future, generating impact and competitiveness in both our ecosystems and in Europe.