PoliHub is the Politecnico di Milano business incubator, managed by Fondazione Politecnico di Milano. It is the place to add value to business ideas and develop high-tech startups. The innovation district is also open to consolidated companies who want to collaborate with the Polytechnic University of Milan’s extensive network. According UBI Global ranking, PoliHub is the 2nd best university business incubator in Europe and 5th best worldwide.

PoliHub was founded in 2000, thanks to contributions from public and private entities, including the city of Milan, which has been an active supporter of youth and technological development. The Polytechnic University of Milan felt the urge to create an entity which could host and foster young high-tech businesses able to transform scientific research into industrial applications.

Mission

PoliHub’s mission is to support highly innovative startups with scalable business models, to foster cross-fertilization between the academy, the various startups and consolidated companies focus on innovation. PoliHub facilitates the exchange of experiences, knowledge, reciprocal contamination and entrepreneurial networking, making available the Politecnico di Milano’s enormous store of information and centers of excellence: MIP, PoliDesign and Cefriel; aimed at collaborating with businesses.

PoliHub supports the creation of innovative technology companies and fosters their collaboration with large enterprises. It helps the most innovative start-ups with valuable services to encourage their success. In its district, PoliHub hosts both startups and consolidated companies.

The service portfolio includes five areas: scouting, tutorship, mentorship, advisory and open innovation.

Scouting - Selecting innovative business ideas and projects

PoliHub carefully scouts and mentors startups via autonomous initiatives and partnerships. It helps to develop ideas, test them for market viability, form teams, develop a business plan, meet potential clients and investors in the international market and turn talent into business.

Tutorship - Forming teams and prototyping

PoliHub offers an intense business empowerment program, specifically designed for startups, in collaboration with MIP, the Polytechnic University of Milan’s business school and center of excellence. The program offers input from key players in the worlds of business and venture capital, specialty seminars on crucial topics for startup development and in-depth workshops on technological themes.

Mentorship - Defining a business model and market viability

The mentoring program is tailor-made for PoliHub’s startups. Every entrepreneurial initiative is supported by one or more expert mentors with experience in the relevant sector, who help accelerate the growth of the individual startups.

PoliHub has a Mentor Club, whose members have specialized experience and skills to select and validate business ideas.

Advisory - Research, financing and scale-up support

Advisory is a service offered to PoliHub’s startups in order to support them in private and public fund raising. PoliHub operates with the main Italian and foreign venture capital funds and business angels and important corporate venture networks. PoliHub directly participates in Ban-Up, a holding company created to favor startup financing.

PoliHub operates via Fondazione Politecnico di Milano to identify major sources of public, national and international funding, startup funding and to build specific co-financed applied research projects.

Open innovation - Helping businesses to innovate

PoliHub helps consolidated companies with “open” innovation by identifying and selecting startups and supporting the development of new innovative technology companies. The main services focused on innovation are:

• Startup Intelligence: a permanent observatory that monitors the evolution of the startup ecosystem nationally and internationally, and transfers and shares that information with the innovation managers of major Italian companies.
• Hackathon: events that bring together experts in relevant fields to face timed concrete technology and business challenges.
• Startup Scouting & Innovation Consultancy: helping companies to find startups that can help them innovate and facilitating the integration of the startups’ services in the business model.
• Tailored Startups: identification and modeling custom startups able to meet companies’ specific innovation needs.
• Corporate Venture Capital: supporting companies in identifying opportunities to invest in high-tech startups.
• Corporate Spin-off: incubation and fostering spin-off companies in PoliHub innovative district.
• Call for Ideas: initiatives aimed at gathering the best innovative ideas in specific fields and providing the entrepreneurs with the cultural and methodological tools necessary to realize worthwhile business ventures.

The PoliHub’s network is fundamental to the development of new entrepreneurial ideas.

Mentors

PoliHub’s mentors are successful managers, entrepreneurs and investors from various innovation sectors, who foster the growth and improvement of our incubated startups’ products and services.

Companies

PoliHub collaborates with important multinationals, Italian companies and institutions to foster the development of incubated initiatives. It includes companies: Deloitte, Fondazione Vodafone Italia, EIT Digital, Everis Foundation, Cariplo Factory, Novartis and Start Up Pulse.

Incubators

PoliHub is in touch with the important European and Non-EU university incubators and science parks, to arrange an important and unique network for the startups. In order to enhance the internalization path of startups, PoliHub is arranging an exchange program at a near-zero cost for the incubators, consisting on giving to the visiting startups a desk to work, the use of meeting rooms and the interaction with tutors. The international incubators network includes:

• UnternehmerTUM – the largest center for innovation and business creation in Europe, with more than 150 employees.
• ACE - an Amsterdam-based university incubator that is helping students, researchers, alumni and tech professionals develop their innovative tech and science-based ideas into successful companies.
• Chrysalis - the Business Incubator from Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. Founded in 2009 it has helped more than 100 technology startups develop and market their value proposition and has specialized in the verticals of software, agrotech, biotech, and consumer goods. It is one of the Top 3 incubators in Latin America according the UBI Index.
• The Simula Garage – a non-profit company established 2001 by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. Simula offers an environment that emphasises and promotes basic research. At the same time, it is involved in research education and application-driven innovation and commercialisation.
• IMT Atlantique Incubator - the business incubator managed by the university IMT Atlantique, France. The incubator is dedicated to technology and high potential entrepreneurs. It partners with innovative technology projects on the campuses Brest, Nantes and Rennes in the fields of digital technology, energy, health, well-being and eco-design.
• BIC Euronova, Business Innovation Centre - a company founded in 1991 through a European Community Commission initiative, to support the creation of innovative SME's, promote the initiation of innovative activities of existing SME's and public administrations.
• University of Latvia Student Business Incubator – the incubator offers different services for students and team members that are participating in one of the incubators programmes.

http://www.polihub.it/en