INNOVA is a private technology and business accelerator, created in Rome in 1993. It offers incubation and acceleration services to startups and innovative companies operating in cutting edge disruptive technologies in ICT (AI, IoT, machine learning, Industry 4.0 technologies) and biotech fields. INNOVA holds branches in Italy, Poland (TECH-IN), Spain
(INGENIERÍA y INNOVACIÓN), UK (INAVYA) and US (ICG – Boston). The US company operates within the Cambridge Innovation Centre (MIT Incubator) supporting the creation of new US-EU venture capital scaleup partnerships.
INNOVA provides specialised support for technology validation, market acceleration, IPR protection and internationalisation. Main areas of expertise ranges from innovation assessment, to technology validation, technology transfer and market take-up.
INNOVA counts on its own internal applied research lab (LABOR), certified by the Italian Ministry of Research, with competencies in design, prototyping and testing in sectors such as mechanics, IT, electronics and chemistry. LABOR is also a successful technology partner in EC-funded projects especially for funding schemes dedicated to SMEs (SME Instrument, EIC.
An early stage seed capital fund complements the INNOVA business model through its technology venture fund, INVENT, that has launched so far more than 80 startups and currently holds participation in 14 high-tech startups and university spin-offs in Italy and UK in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Space applications, medical devices, and innovative materials.
INNOVA assists also companies in completing series A (optimisation of products and user base) and B (expansion of the market reach) financing rounds.
INNOVA is technical advisor and consultant to international companies, leading research centres and universities across Europe, and institutional partners, among which the European
Commission, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank.
In its constant mission to bridge research and market, since 1993 INNOVA:
- Has a longstanding experience in managing and contributing to EU-funded projects. In more than 25 years it has coordinated 24 projects and was involved in more than 100 as
- technical partner providing SW development services, specialised training, business modelling, IPR landscape assessment and scientific communication.
- Launched over 1,500 international technology transfer actions on European level
- Conveyed more than 8,000 hours of training worldwide on innovation, technology transfer, IPR, and technology internationalisation
- Promoted the creation of more than 80 high-tech start-ups especially in the digital tech, Space applications and medical devices
- Carried out LCA and LCC comparative studies in the framework of several European R&D projects.
Since 2018 INNOVA is Startup Europe Ambassador and is from January 2020 is project coordinator of the EU supported initiative B-HUB for EUROPE for the creation of a European
hub to support blockchain technologies acceleration to the market and scaleup.
