USI Startup Center repositions itself

The former startup promotion center of Ticino, CP Start-up, is becoming the USI Startup Center. Established in 2004 on the initiative of Foundation for the Lugano faculties, the center had been taken on by USI in 2018. With a revamped organizational structure, it is now moving to a new location, making the East Campus Lugano its home under the name USI Startup Center. 

Given the increased commitment to its startup incubator, USI is enhancing “its activities dedicated to the knowledge transfer and conversion of research findings into valuable insight for companies”, as USI Pro-Rector for Innovation and Corporate Relations, Luca Maria Gambardella, explained in a press release. Lugano was “strategically” chosen as the location for the USI Startup Center on account of the synergies resulting from proximity to the Informatics and Biomedical Sciences faculties at the USI and to the SUPSI with its innovative technologies. 

The Center has an average of 25 startups in its incubator at any time, generally supporting and coaching them for two years. “We want to keep our doors open to all wishing to discover the world of innovation,” said Francesco Lurati, USI Professor and Director of the USI Startup Center. This center will not only organize events to connect startups with the academic world, but also “host more general public and networking events to grow the innovation ecosystem in Ticino and build contacts that will prove valuable for the future of these startups”.