Selection Committee for Gran Finale

We are very pleased to announce our Selection Committee for the upcoming MTB Gran Finale 2010 event @ Stanford:

Fabrizio Capobianco - Funambol (Coordinator)
Alessandro Biral - KeyNote Ventures
Dino Vendetti - Formative Ventures
Michel Wendell - Nexit Ventures
Hashul Sanghi - Motorola Ventures
Yoav Andrew Leitersdorf - YL Ventures

This group of top notch Silicon Valley investors will have the hard task of selecting the "best business idea" among the 5 participating startups.
The startups have been mentored in the last few weeks by: Alessandro Zago, Matteo Fabiano, Maurizio Liverani and Elisabetta Ghisini.

Now, we really look forward to hearing their pitch!

Mtb Italy Tour: this week program

Also for this week the program of our Tour is quite intense.
Today we presented at Politecnico of Milano (Aula D2.2, Via Golgi 40) hosted by Prof. Baresi (Corso di Tecnologie dei Servizi).
On Thursday (March 18th)two presentations are scheduled: in the morning (starting at 9.30am)in Milan, again at Politecnico of Milan (this time we present at the Course of Corporate & Investment banking held by Prof. Giorgino), and in the afternoon (at 4pm)in Pavia (at the Facoltà di Economia, via San Felice 5), where Prof. Stefano Denicolai hosts our Tour within his course of Innovation Management.
On Friday (March 19th, starting at 930am) we are back to Milan, this time at Università degli Studi di Milano (Aula 13, via Conservatorio 7): we will be hosted by the Course of Comunicazione d’impresa held by Prof. Guzzi.


We are still waiting for confirmation of a presentation in Como at the Design School. Stay tuned for further details.

Good feedback from Milano Bicocca

We were today in Milan, at University of Milano Bicocca.
We had the chance to present the 2010 MtB Business Plan Competition to the next generation of software developers.
The feedback we got is really exciting: 2 and half hours of discussion, with a lot of practical questions asked.
A special thank you to Prof. de Michelis who hosted the presentation and animated the debate. Stay tuned for being informed about the upcoming dates.

50 ph.ds and lecturers attended the Pavia date

Today MtB Italy Tour stopped today in Pavia, at the Engineering School.
Alberto Onetti introduced the attendants to the challenges of starting-up a new business idea and the issues in spin-offing research.
Over 50 ph.ds and lecturers attended the presentation. It looks really promising: the innovation potential in Italy comes from the university labs. Hope to receive some good proposals from some of them!

Thank you again to University of Pavia (and particularly to Prof. Gianni Danese) for supporting us in organizing this event.

Launching Mind The Bridge Mentor Program

A key element of an entrepreneurial ecosystem is a strong network of entrepreneurs, professionals, university professors, industry experts and managers to tap into when you need advice, introductions or just a sounding board for new ideas.

Mind The Bridge is now launching a Mentor Program to help startups connect with experienced people in a wide variety of industry sectors.


For startups: please signup here if you would like to get in touch with one of our accredited mentors.

For mentors: if you are interested in helping out early-stage startups and you think that you have what it takes to be a mentor, please click here to get involved.

MtB Tour: 6 presentations this week

Week full of events for MtB Italy Tour: we have 6 presentations scheduled in different universities (Milan, Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia and Trento).


On Tuesday, the March 9th (starting at 9.30am), we are at University of Milan (Corso di Economia e gestione dell’Innovazione), hosted by our friend Mario Benassi.
On Thursday, the March 11th, 4 presentations in 4 different locations.
In Brescia(starting at 3.45pm, Corso di Gestione aziendale e marketing, held by Professor Motinelli), in Bergamo (at 4pm, Corso di Management delle imprese multinazionali, chaired by Professor De Massis), in Trento at ICT Days of Trento University (we have a booth for the full day), and in Pavia, at the School of Enginnering (at 4pm, Facoltà di Ingegneria).
On Friday, the March 12th, we are back to Milan, at Università Bicocca: we are hosted by Prof. De Michelis (Corso di Informatica per l’organizzazione). The presentation starts at 1.30pm.

Mind the Bridge Tour is going to the Alps

This week Mind the Bridge is going to the Alps. We attend to the ICT Days of Trento University that takes place on March 11th and 12th (from 10AM to 6PM) at Computer Science building, via Sommarive 18 – 38123 Povo, Trento.
The event is hosted by the Computer Science Department of Trento University and focused on Information and Communication Technologies. This event aims at gathering students, graduates and Ph.ds from the ICT fields. The goal is sharing experience and opportunities with companies and partners.


On March 11th, Jari Ognibeni, our local area manager, will introduce the start-up world of the Silicon Valley and its entrepreneurial eco-system. He will also present Mind the Bridge foundation activities for 2010 (Business Plaan Competition, Call for Ideas and Venture Camp).
For more information: http://ictdays.disi.unitn.it/pages/1-home
The partecipation to the event is free of charge.
See you in Trento!

Mtb Italy Tour: feedbacks from the yesterday date in Pavia

Yesterday, Mind The Bridge Italy Tour 2010 stopped in Pavia, hosted at the School of Economics. We presented at the Course of International Business, held by Prof. Antonella Zucchella. 80 post- graduate students attended to the presentation.

We drove them into the start-up world, talking about business plans, business angels and venture capital. A lot of students were excited about the opportunities provided by the 2010 MtB Business Plan Competition and the MtB Call for Ideas we started this year thanks to Cariplo Foundation.
Hope to get some innovative proposals from these guys!

New York, New York, March 25

The reach of the foundation is getting wider and wider.
While in Italy we are in the midst of our Italy-tour-2010, here in the land of the stars and stripes we are adding a new destination to our Silicon Valley tour.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you guessed it: our startups are heading to Nuova York.

Thanks to the fundamental support of ICE New York and the Italian Consulate, our 2009/10 finalists will have the opportunity to explore further opportunities during their Silicon Valley (now, US...) tour.
A day of meetings will culminate with ... yet another elevator pitch session for our champions.
The event is also supported by the incredibly active New York Tech Meetup.

You can register here. Limited availability...

Gran Finale, Stanford University, March 18th

We are approaching the final countdown for the MTB Gran Finale event, to be held on March 18th, 5PM.
This year we are joining forces with an exceptional partner: Stanford University, in particular with the Stanford Center for Professional Development.
SCPD is home of the prestigious university's lifelong learning classes for managers and entrepreneurs.
We foresee great potential in our partnership with SCPD, in particular providing joint courses on entrepreneurship in the future.
In an effort to learn from other country's successful bridges to Silicon Valley, we'll open the Gran Finale with a keynote entitled:

"Israel: how to replicate a successful model"
The panel will be moderated by Shuly Galili (Executive Director of The California Israel Chamber of Commerce) with some surprise guests.

The Consulate General of Italy will offer its precious support and endorsement.
The whole mix will be topped off by delicious Italian food and wine.

Overall, an event not to be missed!