New Entrepreneurship & Startup Centre kicks off

A centre dedicated to developing the culture of entrepreneurship and investing in innovative start-ups.

We have doubled our commitment and investment in startups and entrepreneurship culture. After more than 15 years of running more than 20 world-class accelerator programmes and creating more than 130 startups, we can announce the launch of the new Entrepreneurship & Startup Centre on our Campus.

The objective is twofold: the first is to contribute to the training of skills and the creation of a 'startupper' mentality, the second is to create a real path that accompanies what are initially startup ideas, to the creation of real young innovative companies that can position themselves and open up to the market. 

The Centre focuses on four main activities: the first two, dedicated to H-FARM College students, are training, through which they are provided with the key skills and methods of the start-up world through specific academic courses and extracurricular courses, and the pre-accelerator, a real pre-accelerator programme that is repeated three times a year and provides selected teams of students with concrete tools and key skills that they can use to transform their business ideas into start-up projects. 

The second two are aimed instead at the market and those who want to give concrete shape to their business idea thanks to our investments, in collaboration with institutional partners. On the one hand, the Acceleration programme, which also includes FutureED, the acceleration programme supported by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, which focuses on supporting the growth and development of start-ups in the field of education; on the other hand, the Investment area, which is dedicated to investing in the most interesting start-ups born and raised within our ecosystem and puts them in contact with the network of companies and investors.

All those who access the paths promoted by the Entrepreneurship and Startup Centre will benefit from the network of enterprises and startups of GAN, the Global Accelerator Network, of which we have been part since 2013.

"H-FARM was founded with the clear intention of having an impact, generating awareness of the challenges and opportunities generated by digital transformation and helping the territory to grow," says Riccardo Donadon, our founder and CEO. "Helping young people to be prepared and supporting them in the creation of their business is part of our DNA, and we are in the process of creating a new financial vehicle dedicated to supporting entrepreneurial ideas of all those who are part of our network. By 2030 we want to double our numbers and have 10,000 people working and studying digital innovation in this area," he says.

"We are excited to put our years of experience to use to create a centre that gives aspiring students and entrepreneurs in the H-FARM ecosystem access to a Centre that will guide and inspire them on their journey," said Timothy O'Connell, Entrepreneurship & Startup Centre Director. "Through this programme, we will provide aspiring entrepreneurs with the tools and resources they need to turn their ideas into successful businesses. We are excited to work with these talented teams and look forward to seeing the impact they will have in the startup ecosystem."