The 2014 edition of Working Capital gets under way today - the programme launched by Telecom Italia thathas been powering the Italian ecosystem of digital entrepreneurship, directly supporting the most talented people and facilitating the creation and development of the most innovative start-ups in the Internet, digital life, mobile evolution and green environments.
With the new edition of Working Capital, Telecom Italia will provide 40 Business Grants worth 25,000 Euros each, connected to just as many acceleration paths. The projects must be posted on the website www.workingcapital.telecomitalia.it by 5 May.
Many are the innovations of Working Capital for 2014, introduced in a day completely dedicated to talent, entrepreneurship and passion for innovation. In particular, the Call for Ideas has been opened, which launched the selection of start-ups that will receive the Grants and will thus be able to access this year's acceleration programme. Also, some of the best start-ups that have participated in the program’s previous editions have been illustrated, among which the stories of women founders of successful start-ups stand out.
Anna Masera (Head of Communication, Chamber of Deputies), Stefano Quintarelli (Chamber of Deputies), Sofia Maroudia (ActionAid) and Paolo Barberis (Nana Bianca) attended the event and have fostered a discussion with the many who were present on the value created for Italy's economic system by Open Data and the need to create new start-ups, fundamental to the digitisation of Public Administration processes. A further discussion emphasised the potential of crowdfunding starting from the successful experience of the International Journalism Festival, told by Arianna Ciccone and the founder of the Starteed platform, another start-up financed by Working Capital.
The opening of the 2014 programme was also an opportunity to have an overview of the innovation scenario in Italy and the importance of the entrepreneurial State for the growth and development of the country. The discussion involved the journalist Riccardo Luna, the Deputies Paolo Coppola, Antonio Palmieri and Irene Tinagli along with Antonio Fusacchia (MIUR) and Stefano Firpo (MISE).
The day ended with a discussion on the need for risk capital to generate innovation, with the contribution of some of the major investors in the Italian start-up scene: Mauro Del Rio (Buongiorno), Francesco Niutta (P101), Alessandro Sordi (Nana Bianca), Luigi Capello (LVenture) and Domenico Arcuri (Invitalia).
The “fil rouge” of the various interventions was the issue on “Made in Italy!”, with the values of concreteness, passion and sharing, also narrated by PIF, the presenter, director and writer. The guest of honour was Laura Boldrini, Presidente della Camera dei Deputati (Speaker of Chamber of Deputies).
Rome, 27 March 2014
