GrandUP! is the program launched in 2018 by Fondazione CRC to promote and support innovation in the province of Cuneo, in the Italian region of Piedmont. In 2021, its activities in the social field were joined by those centered on technology: it was the birth of GrandUP! Tech, a project that leverages the collaboration with I3P to propose a program of initiatives aimed at potential innovative entrepreneurs in the Cuneo area, with the aim of supporting the birth of new high-tech companies and contributing concretely to the development of innovation in the local territory.
Among the activities dedicated by GrandUP! to the start-up world are educational sessions for aspiring entrepreneurs, industry professionals and angel investors, accompaniment in business plan development, events and networking opportunities. Part of them is the GrandUP! Tech Academy, the free training course for future entrepreneurs and innovative start-ups in the Cuneo area.
The offer of the path
Each annual edition of the Academy addresses the essential issues to the development of a new innovative start-up, addressing theoretical aspects, practical applications and case histories. The lectures in the program offer talks by professors from Politecnico di Torino, industry experts and I3P analysts who accompany participating teams in the development of their entrepreneurial projects.
Among the main topics covered in the course: business models, customer discovery processes, performance evaluation metrics, business plan and fundraising activities, project communication and digital marketing, legal and tax aspects in setting up new companies.
The initiative concludes with an open event, Pitch Day, during which the teams present the entrepreneurial projects developed during the meetings to a panel of judges: the most promising ones receive access to a pre-incubation path in I3P, funded by Fondazione CRC, to evolve the projects into real start-ups.
Requirements and perspectives
The training course of GrandUP! Tech Academy is entirely free of charge and is aimed as much at aspiring entrepreneurs as it is at young innovative companies already active in the area: the initiative is open to all residents or domiciled in the Italian province of Cuneo and to those who have established, or intend to establish, their own businesses there.
Project teams may register more than one team component for participation in the Academy, while each participant or team of participants may submit only one business project to be developed during the meetings.
The editions of GrandUP! Tech Academy held from 2021 to the present, in which more than 60 young innovators have participated so far, have fostered the birth or further growth of several entrepreneurial projects that have then enjoyed important early successes in the field and continued their path of growth in the national and international arena.
GrandUP! Tech and its Academy are carried out as part of the “Memorandum of Understanding for the Innovation and Digitization of Businesses in the Province of Cuneo” promoted by Fondazione CRC and the Cuneo Chamber of Commerce, to which all the main business associations in the area have adhered, including Coldiretti, Confagricoltura, Confartigianato, Confcommercio, Confindustria, Legacoop Piemonte and Punto Impresa Digitale. The protocol plans to actively involve business representatives in different economic sectors in the province of Cuneo in the establishment of a cohesive, innovative and digitized ecosystem.
