“Accelerate, innovate, develop”: these are the key words of “Working Capital Accelerator”, a project launched by Telecom Italia on a national scale that will be stopping in Catania on Monday 25th June. The project has the objective of helping the best local talents and main actors of “new” Sicilian entrepreneurship to emerge. The “Working Capital” project, beginning at 3pm at the “Monastero dei Benedettini” Auditorium located at 32, Piazza Dante, is part of a series of initiatives promoted by Telecom Italia to develop the biggest accelerator of innovation in Italy and has seen an investment of 7.5 million euros over 3 years by the group.
The event is set as an open debate concerning the current state of digital entrepreneurship in Italy. The following people will be taking part: Antonino Recca, rector of the University of Catania; Marco Patuano, Telecom Italia’s CEO; Ivan Lo Bello, vice president of Confindustria; Antonio Perdichizzi, president of “Giovani Imprenditori Confindustria Catania” (young entrepreneurs of Catania); Maurizio Caserta, professor of Political Economics at the University of Catania; Elita Schillaci, professor of Entrepreneurship, New Businesses and Business Planning at the University of Catania; Davide Bennato, professor of Digital Media Sociology at the University of Catania and Giuseppe Vecchio, Head of the Political and Social Sciences department at the University of Catania.
The event will be coordinated by Gianluca Dettori, founder of dPixel.
You can twitter the event at #wcatania.
During the stop in Catania, 10 projects - selected from those sent to the www.workingcapital.telecomitalia.it web site - will be presented: the most promising will be studied carefully and will have the possibility of receiving funding, while the 3 projects considered most worthy, but not yet sufficiently developed, will be given the chance to develop by taking part in a formation “camp” and through a years tutorship provided by the “Working Capital” team.
Marco Patuano, Telecom Italia’s CEO said that with the “Working Capital” project, Telecom Italia is providing important resources and prominence to those ideas capable of contributing towards entrepreneurship of the future. He went on to say that since the project was launched in 2009 Telecom Italia has received more than 2500 projects and contributed to the creation of over 100 start ups and research projects which proves the efficiency of such an initiative. With the stop in Catania, Telecom Italia is making a further step forward towards the creation of a portfolio of ideas coherent with the group’s spirit of innovation. These could also represent a big innovation project for the country.
Catania, 22nd June 2012
