Padova today hosted the “Working Capital Tour”, the series of encounters promoted by Telecom Italia to discuss the future of technological innovation in Italy and to present “Working Capital”, the project through which the company intends to support the best web 2.0-related entrepreneurial initiatives and the new frontiers of the Internet.
After the success of the Catania, Rome, Turin, Florence, Naples, Milan, Bologna and Bari events, with an attendance of over 1000 people and over 10,000 web hits for the Bologna event alone and the presentation of over 100 projects, the tour today stopped in Padova, historically a major academic and scientific hub, at the University’s Department of Information Engineering.
The morning, dedicated to “Scouting 2.0”, kicked off with the presentation of 11 research projects that contended for 5 Telecom Italia scholarships, each worth a maximum of €20,000.
The presentation was followed by the “Proposals for Innovation” debate, moderated by Riccardo Luna, editor of Wired Italia, that saw the participation of Gabriele Galateri di Genola, President of Telecom Italia, Gianluca Dettori, founder of dPixel, Ilaria Capua, Director of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie’s Research and Development Department, Antonio Cianci, Advisor to the Minister of Public Administration and Innovation, Massimo Marchiori, Professor at the University of Padova’s Department of Mathematics, Stefano Pozzi, Director General of Confindustria Padova, and Paolo Valdemarin, founder of Evectors Software.
The afternoon saw the presentation, through direct accounts, of the experiences of entrepreneurs previously selected by Working Capital and of the startups that applied to take part in the project in the “Startup” area. The presentation took place in the form of the “elevator pitch”: a five-minute description followed by 3 minutes of Q&A, before a panel of top executives from Telecom Italia and industry experts.
Padova, 13 October 2010
