In New York Italy presented itself with algorithms, drones to control bridges and infrastructures and medical diagnosis entrusted to artificial intelligence. It is Italy that on June 10th she met at the General Consulate of Italy for the inaugural evening of SMAU New York, the exhibition of innovation that after the European stages and two editions in San Francisco for the first time in the most competitive city in the world to test her startups.
The initiative is promoted by ITA – Italian Trade Agency along with SMAU. The evening at the Consulate met the Italian delegation and local interlocutors, among investors, companies and institutions, before the central day of June 11 at the Sixth Floor Loft in Union Square, with B2B meetings, panel and networking. At the heart of the edition there are thirty-three selected Italian startups, flanked by large companies such as Chiesi, Enel, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and Veolia Italy, and the delegations of three Regions: Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Lazio. To confront them, on the American side, names like Amazon, Google, JPMorgan Chase and Pfizer, along with investment funds and accelerators like Cornell Tech, HAX and Newlab.
To explain the meaning of the operation are above all the two voices of the Agency. “New York is a unique hub, where capital, technology and talent meet every day,” said Erica Di Giovancarlo, ICE Director New York and coordinator of the Agency’s network in the United States. It is the ideal scenario, he added, to show that Made in Italy goes well beyond traditional excellence and now embraces artificial intelligence, health, mobility and advanced manufacturing, at a time of strong vitality of the relations between Italy and the United States.
To give the measure of change is a fact that Giosafat Riganò, director of ICE Los Angeles, has defined historical. “For the first time in history life sciences and biotechnologies are the first among the sectors of Italian exports to the United States, overcoming traditionally leading sectors such as instrumental mechanics,” he said. A result that, he observed, tells the ability of Italian companies to assert themselves in the most advanced segments of the economy and makes Italy an increasingly credible innovation hub in American eyes.
“Bringing SMAU to New York means placing Italian innovation in places where global trajectories of technological development are defined,” added Valentina Sorgato, CEO of SMAU. The idea, he explained, is to build relationships, attract capital and put Italian companies in the conditions to compete on an international scale.
Among the regions were Lazio, accompanied by President Francesco Rocca and Vice-President Roberta Angelilli. “They are innovative startups in the field of artificial intelligence, sustainable mobility, green tech and pharmaceutical, a beautiful representation of the innovation of Lazio”, explained Angelilli, recalling that the Region has an internationalization strategy that for 2026 is worth about fifteen million euros, between vouchers for fairs and events and system missions. A month ago the same delegation was in San Francisco. “SMAU in New York is the first time, a fantastic first time on which we bet a lot”.
Angelilli has tied the presence in New York to a bigger game, the European one. Citing the Draghi and Letta reports, he recalled that without support for startups and deep tech Europe risks accumulating a delay in competitiveness difficult to fill. “In investing in innovation and accompanying enterprises in these missions is strategic not only for those who participate, but for the entire regional, national and European system”, he said, looking at the next Community budget that will generate important resources to competitiveness and venture capital.
President Rocca stressed the human capital. “We have an extraordinary youth community, full of energy, vibrant and creative”, he said, recounting a mission that aims to consolidate the contacts started last year and build collaborations with the American territories. To those who asked him how much sports successes help attract talent, he responded with a reflection on the “Italian system”. To carry us forward in the world, he observed, more than the samples are culture and food, what makes us welcome everywhere and in every age. Then a joke, on the only front in which he really arrives the arrows of foreigners: the absence of Italy to the last World Cup of football.
The thirty-three startups tell a concrete innovation and already ready for the market. There are those who apply artificial intelligence to medical imaging for faster diagnosis, those who use drones and satellites to control bridges and infrastructures, who develops 3D printing of large-scale metals or transfer to industry technologies born for space. Different sectors, held together by a common thread: the idea that innovation, today, is the ground on which Italy is played much of its future, and that in order to grow it needs to measure just where the competition is tougher.
L’articolo SMAU brings Italian startups to New York proviene da IlNewyorkese.
