Federated Innovation is promoted by Lendlease, a leading real estate company in urban regeneration and responsible for the design and construction of MIND. Cariplo Factory plays the role of Ecosystem Catalyst.
The public-private collaborative model brings together the first 32 companies that will develop innovation projects in the following disciplines: Greentech, Urban Digital Tech, Fintech, Agrifood Tech & Wellbeing, Retail Tech, Life Sciences & Health Care, Proptech & Smart Spaces, Security & Defense, Mobility and Logistics, Energy, and Construction Tech. Thanks to a unique legal framework, these innovations will promote the development of applications in an environment that protects intellectual property.
With the signing of the memorandum of association, Federated Innovation was born today at MIND Milano Innovation District: a new model that brings together private companies which, benefiting from the MIND ecosystem, will develop innovation projects in the fields of Life Sciences and City of the Future.
THE FEDERATED INNOVATION MODEL
Federated Innovation, promoted by Lendlease as the entity responsible for the design and private development of MIND, with the contribution of Cariplo Factory as a catalyst, already brings together the first 32 leading companies that will collaborate in a virtuous and collaborative environment to accelerate the translation of ideas into new products, processes, and services that contribute to the country's economic recovery. The model, in compliance with antitrust regulations, aims to go beyond open innovation and proprietary innovation, and is based on a unique legal framework that will allow new ideas, projects, and visions to be collected and developed quickly and linearly with predefined operating methods and procedures, in order to make them available to everyone, thus acting as an "innovation developer."
FOUNDING COMPANIES OF FEDERATED INNOVATION
These are the 32 companies that created Federated InnovationTM: A2A, ABB, Accenture, AstraZeneca, Bracco, Cereal Docks, Cisco, Daikin, Enel X, E.ON Italia, Elettronica, Esselunga, Fabrick, Forte Secur Group, Lendlease, Life Sciences District, Maire Tecnimont, Mapei, Nippon Gases, Novartis, Podium, Poste Italiane, Promocoop Lombardia, Samsung SDS, Schneider Electric, Sicuritalia, Stevanato Group, Stora Enso, TIM, VSBLTY, WINDTRE, Wood Beton.
The creation of the Federated InnovationTM model was made possible thanks to the collaboration of OXYGY and PwC Advisory for operational and organizational aspects, Bird & Bird Law Firm for legal aspects, and PlusValue, as facilitator of relations with the district's public anchors for the construction of a common agenda for research and innovation with high social impact.
Companies will be grouped into 11 thematic areas: Greentech, Urban Digital Tech, Fintech, Agrifood Tech & Wellbeing, Retail Tech, Life Sciences & Health Care, Proptech & Smart Spaces, Security & Defense, Mobility and Logistics, Energy, and Construction Tech.
Companies will operate with their own innovation and research teams within Federated Innovation, which will bring together national and international excellence among large, small, and medium-sized enterprises, developing cross-tech ideas and encouraging cross-pollination between different players who are interested in collaborating within their respective thematic areas. Companies belonging to the same industry will thus be invited to cooperate with their competitors in full compliance with competition rules and with smaller or developing companies—such as startups—but with talented human capital to initiate authorization procedures and experiments in the MIND district on a specific project and for a specific objective. Last but not least, joint projects between different thematic areas will be encouraged in order to multiply opportunities for technological development and accelerate innovation processes aimed at increasing the well-being of individuals and the planet.
Companies that become partners of Federated Innovation @MIND will operate with their own innovation and research teams within the district, allocating spaces such as laboratories and offices, promoting activities and developing projects in the area, creating a true community of innovators, thanks in part to the presence of researchers, students, and clinicians from the University of Milan, IRCCS Galeazzi, and the Human Technopole Foundation. Each project created within Federated Innovation is required to respond to the priorities and strategic challenges outlined by companies in the district's Innovation Agenda. A testing phase is followed by a "competition" phase, in which each company or group of companies will develop the project so that it can be selected and brought to MIND.
"We are very proud to have launched Federated Innovation at the end of a complex and challenging process, given the unique characteristics of the initiative and the ambition of the model itself," said Tommaso Boralevi, President of Federated Innovation. "A unique global goal: to develop cross-cutting innovation in many industrial sectors based on the principle of 'collaborate & compete' among the various companies participating in the initiative. This is a bold challenge made possible by the many companies that have joined and with whom we have already begun working to launch the implementation phase of the model. By next year, we will see the presentation of the first innovation projects generated, demonstrating the significant impact generated by the MIND ecosystem." Andrea Ruckstuhl, Head of Italy and Continental Europe at Lendlease, added: "Today, a community of innovation is taking shape in Italy, made up of excellent companies that will collaborate on research projects with the ambition of creating solutions for life and for people. At Lendlease, we strongly wanted MIND to be not just a real estate project but a cross-cutting innovation ecosystem in all the main disciplines of the future, which we aim to connect, in a global network, to the projects that Lendlease is developing around the world, where we are promoting the Federated Innovation model.
Lendlease itself is an active partner and, within our industrial sector, we are promoting the development of crosstech innovation, particularly in the Life Sciences sector, with the aim of creating the model for the cities of tomorrow that seeks to find solutions to the challenges posed by the major changes currently taking place around the world. "We are proud to have contributed to the creation of the Federated Innovation project alongside such important partners and, in particular, to be able to play the role of Ecosystem Catalyst, which for us is the natural evolution of the work we have done in recent years," commented Carlo Mango, Managing Director of Cariplo Factory. "From the outset, Cariplo Factory has positioned itself within the Italian innovation ecosystem with the aim of increasing its competitiveness, in synergy with all players: businesses, universities, research centers, incubators, accelerators, startups, and investors. Our goal has always been to promote new models of innovation, to enable companies to reap the greatest benefits from exponential technologies, to attract talent and enhance the human capital of our country, generating not only economic but also social impact. In MIND and its Federated Innovation model, we have found these values and this vision."
THE BIRTH OF THE MIND INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
The MIND innovation ecosystem, the innovation district created in Milan in 2018 in the former Expo area through a public-private partnership between Arexpo—owner of the MIND site—and Lendlease—responsible for the design and construction of the areas—is the result of a complex process that began with MINDlab, the call for proposals launched by Arexpo in 2018. This call aimed to gather expressions of interest from companies seeking to develop field trials, tests, pilot projects, applications, and innovative technologies in a range of sectors such as Life Sciences, Smart City, Digital Solutions, Design, Construction, Mechanics, and Agri-Food, united by the common thread of innovation that is first and foremost at the service of citizens' well-being. MIND's vision is the result of the joint commitment of these two players together with the public functions of Galeazzi Hospital, the University of Milan, the Human Technopole Research Institute, and the Triulza Foundation.
Federated Innovation is the culmination of the development of the MIND ecosystem, which has led to the creation of a new legal entity to guide and coordinate the process of creating innovation at MIND. Launched in October 2020, it follows the project phase that began in November 2019, which brought together the first 55 companies participating in MIND—now more than 100—and precedes the fourth step, which will come to life in 2021, when MIND's "Service Catalog & Marketplace" will be created. the operating system that will include all the value-added services available within the innovation ecosystem, accessible to members of the community. The Catalogue will contain services, networking opportunities, such as Real Estate services (operations on the MIND site, space rental, etc.), experiences as catalysts for businesses and the community promoted by Lendlease and third parties (digital platforms, data exchange platforms, diversity & inclusion programs, etc.) and, finally, access to an on-site network formed by MIND partners, but also off-site, thanks to relationships with institutions, universities, and businesses at the local, national, and global levels.
