The Business Innovation Factory (BIF) roadshow goes to Israel, with the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani

13 March 2023

The last stop on the international roadshow presenting BIF, Leonardo’s accelerator for start-ups with high potential for innovation, took place in Tel Aviv with the participation of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology of Israel, Ofir Akunis.

The Israeli stop on the roadshow offered the Leonardo team an opportunity to tell candidates from the country known as the “Startup Nation” about the features of BIF. Israel has more than 7 thousand start-ups, about 430 Venture Capital funds in the innovation ecosystem, 100 accelerators and 37 active incubators. In the innovation sector, the country has been able to create an ecosystem that is unique in the world, contributing to 15.3% of GDP and 54% of exports.

The roadshow presenting the initiative has met with great success, with more than 200 start-ups, venture capital and innovation hubs taking part in the five presentation stages in Naples, Milan, London, Munich and Tel Aviv.

The roadshow overall has met with great success, with over 200 start-ups, venture capital and innovation hubs taking part in the five presentation stages – Naples, Milan, London, Munich and Tel Aviv. The second call for submissions is open to national and international university startups and spin-offs – including those in the set-up phase – and focuses on two specific vertical themes: “simulation and gamification” and “networking & cybersecurity”. The selection phase for the candidates has now been opened by Leonardo's dedicated team which, with the support of the LVenture Group, its partner in the initiative, will lead to the identification of a shortlist of start-ups that will be able to access, from May, the BIF’s 6-month acceleration programme.

BIF stands out within the Italian innovation ecosystem as a center of excellence in the development of high-potential technological solutions. The second edition of BIF, is part of a three-year accelerator programme which aims to select up to ten startups per year (for a total of 30). These startups will need to show the ability to develop innovative solutions that can contribute to widening Leonardo’s expanding range of digital services. The launch of BIF is part of Leonardo's approach to innovation based, according to the Be Tomorrow 2030 strategic growth plan, on interaction and collaboration among different players, within and outside the Group, to promote the sharing of new ideas and knowledge while offering opportunities to develop new technological solutions.

The first edition of BIF - focusing on the vertical themes of servitisation and autonomous systems - achieved excellent results with the submission of more than 170 applications, 41% of which were from abroad. The Leonardo team and LVenture Group analysed the projects and came up with a short list of twenty start-ups. From these the best ten were admitted to BIF’s first acceleration programme, which lasted five months and concluded in October 2022 with a demo day presenting the results achieved by the startuppers involved.