Start Cup Toscana: best high-tech ideas from the research world awarded at Sant'Anna School. Admitted by right to the finals of the National Innovation Award, in Milan, Nov. 30

Clepio Biotech, a start up project of the Life Sciences field from the University of Florence is the winner of the 2023 edition of Start Cup Toscana, the business plan competition of the best entrepreneurial ideas based on research. Clepio Biotech offers an innovative and automated service for the 3D reconstruction and the analysis of the biological tissue. Clepio Biotech receives a Prize of 5.000 euro

Second and third place for FluidWire Robotics e Soundsafe Care both originated in the laboratories of the Sant’Anna School. 

The three winners can participate to the National Innovation Prize, that will be held in Milan, November the 30th and December the 1st.

Innomarble, a project of the Scuola Normale Superiore, receives the special Mention Green&Blu, offered by the GEDI News Group, as the best project with an impact on the climate change while the Intellectual Property  Prize has been assigned by the Studio Rubino to RNA Shield, from the University of Pisa. The winner Clepio Biotech also receives a Prize of incubation services from Pont-Tech  in Pontedera.

The competition has been organized by the Sant'Anna School for the year  2023, and has been supported by the  Tuscany Region through its Regional Technology Transfer Office in the framework of  Giovanisì, the regional initiative for young people autonomy.

The winning ceremony has been opened by Alessandra Nardini, councilor of the Tuscany Region Governement and the Vice Rector for the Third Mission of the Sant'Anna School Marco Frey.

A workshop with  Monica Russo, general manager of the foundation GRINS; Vittorio Biondi, general manager of the ecosystem MUSA and Renato Cascino, president of the Club of the Spin Off companies from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna has focused the sustainability and PNRR during the morning.

The Start Cup Toscana involves all the Universities and Schools with special statute that every year organize the competition: Università degli studi di Firenze, Università di Pisa, Università di Siena, Università per Stranieri di Siena, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca e Scuola Normale Superiore. 

"The Start Cup - says the Vice Rector for the Third Mission of the Sant'Anna School Marco Frey - was an opportunity to verify the quality of the entrepreneurial ideas that are being developed in Tuscany, but also to understand how important it is to continue a systemic action that integrates the skills and competencies of the different universities, regional institutions, funders, and the start-ups themselves. This integrated vision required by European policies is essential to direct in the right and effective direction the funding of the PNRR and the overall resources that are finally available for technology and knowledge transfer in our country." 

"The Start Cup Toscana - says Alessandra Nardini, councilor of the Tuscany Region Governement - is an opportunity that allows us to appreciate the skills of the young researchers coming out of our university institutions, to touch upon the valuable work that the Tuscan academic system carries out in the field of the 'third mission,' through which skills and knowledge are then transmitted to the production system and to society as a whole. I am happy and proud that the region continues to support this initiative, and we do so with conviction. The event is an opportunity to remind each and every one of us of the importance and necessity of working as a system, so that the spin-offs on the territory of the work carried out by university institutions have a multiplicative effect. This is also why we wanted Tuscany to have its own Regional Technology Transfer Office aimed at fostering closer collaboration among the Technology Transfer Offices of Tuscan universities, pooling resources and expertise. The same finalists, candidates and applicants - concludes Alessandra Nardini - will be able to request support to develop their idea even after the conclusion of Start Cup Toscana". 

Attached all the selected projects for the final event. 

Cover Photo: the winners.