RoboIT - National Tech-Tranfer Hub

By project UnicornQuest

Published on 03 March 2025

Italy

About this good practice

The goal is to promote the birth of a new generation of companies, the deep-tech startups that arise from research centers and universities and to support researchers in the creation of future national and international champions of innovation.
RoboIT focuses on the enhancement of research results in the fields of robotics and industrial automation, involving the most important Italian Research Centers specialized on the subject, through a new investment model that supports the entire supply chain of the transfer of an innovative technology to the market with:
- the development of the PoC, through a process of de-risking and technology transfer for the technical and business feasibility study and the definition of a technological development plan;
- the creation of the company, stimulating the project through a path of entrepreneurial strengthening and market validation up to industrialization;
- national and international marketing thanks to the further contribution of sectoral venture capital funds able to follow the growth of the best startups on the global market.

Expert opinion

RoboIT is an initiative supporting the development of startups in robotics and industrial automation from research centers and universities. It provides support from research stage, including developing the proof of concept, to market stage, including creating the company and helping with access to national and international markets. This practise helps startups succeed by reducing technical and business risks already early in the process. Through supporting business model and technology development in the early stages, it helps startups become more competitive. Other regions could learn from the structured approach of this practise to support the creation of local deep tech businesses.

Mart Veliste

Works at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

Resources needed

€ 20 mln of which €17,2 mln from TT CDP VC Fun, as asset under management, needed to cover both the investments and the costs of the supports programs.
Liguria Region has coinvested € 3 mln

Evidence of success

At Country level, RoboIT supported 38 initiatives of which 19 Prof of Concept and 19 Start ups for a total investment of € 14,5 mil

Potential for learning or transfer

The RoboIT investment model has been validated in recent years by the growth of several businesses. Starting from research laboratories and supporting teams of researchers, it has gone on to establish many innovative start-ups, which are establishing themselves nationally and also beginning to scale internationally, also thanks to the involvement of the partner imec.istart.
The ecosystem that has also developed around these innovative realities, thanks to the involvement of leading players at both academic and corporate level, has certainly facilitated the growth of the start-ups that RoboIT has financed and supported.