Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo presents the new Artificial Intelligence start-up accelerator managed by the Digital Magics incubator.
An essential engine for socio-economic development, Artificial Intelligence is a disruptive technological paradigm applicable to all areas of industry and society.
In view of this, Digital Magics, the leading incubator supporting digital sector start-ups, has launched MAGIC MIND, a Europe-wide accelerator dedicated to AI, to be located between Turin and Milan and intended for start-ups with highly innovative projects, focused on Artificial Intelligence as a development driver, in the business software, healthcare, cybersecurity, marketing, logistics and transport sectors.
The aim of the initiative is to work with at least 12 new companies a year for 3 annual cycles of activity, thus supporting at least 36 start-ups, both Italian and foreign.
The MAGIC MIND offer consists of six pillars on which the selected start-ups will be able to grow their project until it is implemented as an advanced business: up to 90,000 euros of initial investment in a combination of cash and services, over 20 stations available for founders, market access paths through round tables with programme partners, over ten additional services sponsored by partners, up to 120,000 euros of financing for graduates selected by the programme, end2end support for business products and investments.
In order to achieve its ambitious objectives, MAGIC MIND can count on a series of internationally renowned partners who will also provide opportunities to implement the selected projects. The corporate partners include IBM, Exprivia, Bricoman, Dentons, Gruppo SCAI, Angelini Ventures, IC Infocamere; Fondazione Bruno Kessler and Associazione italiana per l’Intelligenza Artificiale will instead be the technical partners, while Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo will act as the ecosystem partner.
Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo supports MAGIC MIND in the belief that the programme, which is a springboard for the best European start-ups in the field of Artificial Intelligence, contributes to boosting the local and national innovation ecosystem.
Particular attention will be paid to helping the selected start-up become established and grow in the area. Within the Accelerators Platform framework, the Foundation has so far supported 51 start-ups, including 27 foreign ones, succeeding in getting 7 of them to set up in Turin. All this has been achieved with a 4-fold leverage effect in line with the targets set by the multi-year programming.
The exploratory path launched by the Foundation in field of AI – shaped by the two themed call for proposals and enriched by the entry into MAGIC MIND – is leading the Foundation to develop its own vision of “AI for the common good”, in which the power of algorithms is used to improve the resilience of territories and the well-being of communities.
The preliminary phase of MAGIC MIND will begin on 4 October 2022 with the opening of the call. From 17 October 2022 to 19 January 2023, there will be bootcamps during which the selected start-ups will be able to illustrate their projects in detail. Pitch day will be held on 8 February 2023, when the acceleration programme for projects will be launched, ending on 24 May 2023.
