Source: UniCredit
How does Israel's innovation ecosystem work? What are the shared routes and key steps that have brought success to so many Israeli start-ups? Can these growth and scale-up models be replicated in other places?
To address these questions and give practical support to Italian start-ups in their growth process, UniCredit has organised the Bootcamp Tel Aviv.
The initiative is dedicated to 20 female entrepreneurs who have taken part in UniCredit Start Lab, the bank's business platform designed for innovative start-ups. The programme includes remote meetings, scheduled on 2-5 November, with main players and talents from Israel's innovation ecosystem. The initiative will give the participants an opportunity to analyse the dynamics that have taken Israel to the top of the world ranking for innovative companies per capita, as well as for patents. It has an extremely vibrant start-up market and ability to attract capital (in 2019 alone Israeli start-ups and high-tech companies made over 500 investment deals, raising $8.3 billion, up 30% on 2018).
The boot camp will also offer to the innovators the opportunity to present entrepreneurial projects to an audience of Israeli corporates and investors, during the final "pitch night".
The programme is dedicated to multiple scale-ups and start-ups led by women, in the clean tech, life science, digital and "innovative Made in Italy" sectors, which have been helped by the bank in recent years through UniCredit Start Lab.
Female entrepreneurship continues to grow also in the new technologies field. Among the innovative companies supported by UniCredit, the percentage set up and run by women has steadily grown to 25%.
Francesco Giordano, co-CEO of Commercial Banking Western Europe at UniCredit, said: 'The UniCredit Bootcamp Tel Aviv initiative combines two topics which are of strategic importance for UniCredit. On one hand, equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion, which are key values for our Group, as we work towards them with specific activities to increase and support diversity at all levels. On the other hand innovation, which is among the most effective growth vectors both for the economy and companies as well as being a pillar of UniCredit's actions, as shown by the success of our UniCredit Start Lab business platform, which is designed to stimulate innovative start-ups.'