L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano W e often hear about the constant efforts by I t a l y ' s r e g u l a t o r y bodies to safeguard our authen- tic "Made in Italy" merchandise mark. A lot of times, however, the b e s t s o l u t i o n s a r e t h e o n e s developed by young start-up companies, like the Sardinian Autentico, that employs "Near Field Communication" (NFC) technology to prevent Italian products' counterfeiting. Another field, in which Italy is leading the way, is the imple- mentation of eco-friendly, low- impact technologies, able to rev- olutionize our lives and, at the same time, preserving our plan- et, in other words the "green tech." The Sardinian start-up com- pany, Veranu, is working in this direction, by perfecting a smart floor with piezoelectric proper- ties. Soon, we will be able to generate clean energy by simply walking about our homes' floor- boards. After a greatly successful first edition last October at the Italian Embassy in London, the networking event for "start- uppers," Sardinia Goes Global, brought together these two inno- vators for the second edition, h e l d a t t h e I t a l i a n C u l t u r a l Institute (IIC) in Los Angeles on June 9 th , with the support of the C o n s u l a t e G e n e r a l a n d t h e Italian Trade Agency (ICE). One of the main facilitators was the international venture incubator, Clhub (whose name comes from the merge of the w o r d s , " C l u b " + " H u b " + "Lab"), that officially launched its US operation in that occa- sion. The company - headquartered i n C a g l i a r i , S a r d i n i a , w i t h offices in Milan, Lombardy, and coming soon in California - aims to expand locally its network of business relationships, but also to attract foreign investors to Sardinia and Italy as a whole. Sardinia Goes Global has been also possible thanks to the p a r t n e r s h i p b e t w e e n s e v e r a l other preeminent organizations, the above mentioned Consulate General of Italy, ICE and IIC, as well as Westport Construction I n c . a n d t h e L o s A n g e l e s Venture Association (LAVA). A perfect business match to Clhub was the LAVA, that, since 1985, has been providing forums where entrepreneurs and execu- t i v e s o f s t a r t - u p , e m e r g i n g growth and late stage venture funded companies, actively meet and learn from fellow execu- tives, investors, bankers, finan- cial advisors and other providers of professional services. Let's hear first some intro- d u c t o r y w o r d s b y C o n s u l General Antonio Verde: "What really is remarkable, is that Italy has not only a number of young, very talented and cre- ative start-up companies, but also those entities, like 'Clhub' and ICE's 'Innovation Desk,' that step-by-step nurture their growth. In fact, despite Italian cre- ativity remains our biggest asset, every start-up company sooner or later comes to a point where it needs resources to put to fruition its trailblazing and life-changing projects." Here's the role played by the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) of L.A., in the words of Guido Cattabianchi, in charge of the o r g a n i z a t i o n ' s " I n n o v a t i o n Desk:" "Our trade promotion agency is in charge of startups, innova- tion, and investments for the West Coast of the United States. F o r t h e g r o u n d w o r k o f 'Sardinia Goes Global' we not only provided logistics support, but also liaised with institutions and other key players active in Los Angele's startup landscape to promote the event and secure attendance." Here is Giovanni Sanna, CEO of Clhub, explaining us how the idea for this amazing start-up incubator came to be. "Clhub started in 2015 with the intention of bringing our know-how, developed in the US, back to Sardinia and the Italian peninsula, where we scouted for the best innovation ideas and, t h e n , h e l p e d t u r n t h e m i n t o international companies. Since the beginning, we cre- ated the platform to support young entrepreneurs with a ded- icated incubation program to develop and grow their ideas and add the right 'ingredients' to success. At this stage we have created an extensive and important net- work and the right base to add many startups in the coming years." Electronic engineer Alessio Calcagni, CEO of Veranu, com- municated us his enthusiasm for "green tech" and "green ener- gy:" "I've been working on pres- sure sensors with piezoelectric materials. As I was developing my research project for my MS in Engineering, I had the chance to experience the fabulous world of organic electronics that has its roots in the use of materials with carbon and hydrogen (like the piezoelectric ones). The main aspect is that it is possible to come up with green applications among these new frontier of electronics. In fact, I realized how the piezoelectric m a t e r i a l u s e d f o r m y t h e s i s could generate a signal made up of energy…a green and clean one! If I combine this discovery with my eco-friendly lifestyle and respect to the environment, that shall explain how Veranu was born." Alessio, then, went on retrac- ing with us the steps that led to the birth of Veranu: "At first, I was alone in the development of my idea: to gen- erate energy by footsteps. An apparently simple concept, but somehow disruptive and innova- tive. Soon I realized that my VALERIO VIALE Sardinia Goes Global – Innovative Start-ups unveiled in L.A. LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY skills were not enough to go on with the implementation of it. For this reason, I shared my idea with my university col- leagues, Simone Mastrogiacomo and Giorgio Leoni first, and Nicola Mereu afterwards. As my idea became the team's one, the concept of 'Veranu' was finally born. In Italy, we took part to the 'Edison Start' award competi- tion (June 2014), then to the 'Start Cup Sardegna' (October 2014), in which we made it to the final and to important inter- national meetings, such as the ' G r e e n I n n o v a t i o n a n d I n v e s t m e n t F o r u m ' ( h e l d i n Stuttgart in February 2015) and the 'Table of Investors' powered by 'Build it up' (May 2015). But the most important accel- eration in our project occurred in A p r i l 2 0 1 6 , d u r i n g t h e f i r s t ' S tar tu p B attle' p o w er ed b y 'Clhub.' In fact, we won the competition and, right away, we started our 'incubation' with that venture incubator. In six months, we became startup foundation, we deposited the Italian patent demand and we presented our second proto- type in a prime innovation fair ( ' S i n n o v a 2 0 1 6 ' , C a g l i a r i , Sardinia). At this point our team is con- stantly growing with resources, provided by the CFO Giovanni Sanna and the rest of Clhub's m a n a g e m e n t t e a m . W e a r e improving our product's effi- ciency and performance and soon it will be possible to have a walk on our smart floors. To me and my team, Veranu is first of all a dream come true, but also a business to feed until it will become an innovative product, by which everyone can walk and generate green ener- gy." And now it's time to hear from Diego Lai, CTO and co- founder of Autentico: "'Autentico' is our solution to the grey market of counterfeit food, wine and fashion. It is b a s e d o n N e a r F i e l d Communication (NFC) technol- o g y a n d t h e a p p l i c a t i o n of the NFC tag in the product label. Applying the tag is just the first step. Our startup company is a complete IT-platform, with l o t s o f f e a t u r e s : N F C T a g A p p l i c a t i o n S e r v i c e b y t h e I n s e r t L a b e l M a c h i n e , t h e Autentico's app and a complete Reserved Area to manage your own production. Every smartphone provided with a NFC reader can use our app. It doesn't need to be con- nected to the Internet: thanks to the integrated cryptographic sys- tem, the app is always able to recognize the NFC Tag. Just by touching lightly the label con- t a i n i n g t h e N F C T a g , t h e Autentico App will be able to show you the information about the product and its authenticity. One of our main features is the Tag Application Service with the Insert Label Machine. I f t h e p r o d u c t i s a l r e a d y labelled, like a bottle of wine or olive oil bottle, we apply the DNA Tag on your own labels with our Insert Label Machine. In this way, you won't need to change your production chain, neither to furtherly train your technicians. The labelling process with the DNA Tag is carried out by our team. The producers (winer- ies or oil mills) won't need to make any change in their pro- duction chain. This innovation allows the implementation of the NFC technology with low bud- get and it's independent from t h e a m o u n t o f p r o d u c t s p e r year." In conclusion, here is, in a nutshell, Diego Lai's presenta- tion at the first L.A.'s Sardinia Goes Global: "'Autentico' is a solution in progress, a simple idea devel- oped into a real platform where our customers became at the s a m e t i m e c o n s u l t a n t s a n d testers thanks to their competi- tion. It is important to emphasize how this solution was born from a real customer need and, for this reason, we can grow togeth- e r . W e f i r m l y b e l i e v e t h a t Autentico can become a stan- dard to stop fake product and grey market." From L to R, Simone Mastrogiacomo, Guido Cattabianchi, Florindo Blandolino, Riccardo Sanna, Alfonso P. Scanio, Antonio Verde, Giovanni Sanna, Alessio Calcagni, Diego Lai, Andrew Apodaca, Damiano Congedo. Courtesy of C. Porru

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