Applications are now open for the second edition of GrandUP! Tech Academy, the free training course for future entrepreneurs and innovative start-ups in the province of Cuneo. The initiative is promoted by Fondazione CRC, in collaboration with I3P, the Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino, as part of the multi-year project GrandUP! Tech, aimed at supporting the development of an innovation ecosystem, the dissemination of knowledge, and the birth of new enterprises in the area.

Participation to GrandUP! Tech Academy is completely free of charge. The initiative is aimed at both future innovative entrepreneurs and innovative start-ups already established in the area: the training course is in fact open to all residents or domiciled in the province of Cuneo and entrepreneurs who have set up, or intend to set up, their business there. Project teams may nominate more than one component for participation in the Academy, while each participant or team of participants may present only one business project to be developed during the meetings. It will be possible to register for the course, for which places are limited, until October 16, 2022 by filling in the form available online here.

The new edition of GrandUP! Tech Academy will be presented during the event organized by Fondazione CRC and I3P for Thursday, September 15, 2022, at 6 p.m. CEST at the Rondò dei Talenti in Cuneo, the new educational hub built by Fondazione CRC and inaugurated in July. The event, held in person and in Italian language, will be an opportunity to listen to the testimonies of some of the young entrepreneurial teams supported during the first edition of the Academy, including Eventvm and Glu Glu, and to learn in detail about the programme of the course being launched this year, its opportunities, the application and participation procedures, as well as the partners involved and the context of the innovation support activities carried out to date as part of the GrandUP! Tech project. To register and attend the launch event click here

Following the success of the first edition, launched in 2021, the Academy returns for 2022-2023 to address the fundamental issues for the development of a new enterprise, combining theoretical aspects and practical applications on real cases, with lectures by Politecnico di Torino lecturers and industry experts, joined by I3P analysts who will accompany the participating teams in the development of entrepreneurial projects throughout the course. Among the topics at the centre of the seven meetings scheduled to begin in November 2022: business models, customer discovery processes, performance evaluation metrics, the business plan and fundraising activities, project communication and digital marketing, through to legal and tax aspects in setting up start-ups. The course will conclude with a Pitch Day, scheduled for March 2023, during which participants will present their projects to a panel of experts: the best projects will receive the opportunity to access a pre-incubation course at I3P.

The GrandUP! Tech project and its Academy are being implemented as part of the ‘Memorandum of Understanding for Innovation and the Digitalisation of Businesses in the Province of Cuneo‘, promoted by Fondazione CRC and the Cuneo Chamber of Commerce, which was signed in June 2022 by all the main trade associations in the area, including Confindustria, Confartigianato, Coldiretti, Confcommercio, Legacoop Ufficio Territoriale di Cuneo and Punto Impresa Digitale. Starting from the objective of increasing the effectiveness of initiatives aimed at fostering business start-ups and Open Innovation paths, the protocol intends to actively involve business representatives from the province’s various economic sectors in the establishment of a cohesive, innovative and digitised ecosystem.

“With the new edition of GrandUp! Tech Academy and thanks to the collaboration of I3P, Fondazione CRC’s commitment to innovation-oriented development continues,” said Ezio Raviola, President of Fondazione CRC. “The Academy’s 2022-2023 programme is an important element in the overall strategy that we have adopted, in synergy with the numerous partners who have joined the project, to continue to foster the birth of new start-ups and high-tech companies in the province of Cuneo, with important positive spin-offs in terms of economic development, employment and social impact.”

“The launch of the second edition of GrandUP! Tech Academy is a confirmation of the confidence we share with Fondazione CRC in the vast potential for technological development and innovative entrepreneurship in the Cuneo area,” commented Giuseppe Scellato, President of I3P. “The teams of young startuppers that we have trained and supported during the first cycle of lessons, whose fields of activity range from agribusiness to digital platforms, have shown a strong interest in business culture and the growth opportunities offered by the tools of innovation.“