Main sponsor 2011

Main Sponsor

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world?s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With more than 190,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, the company generated net revenues of US $21.58 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2009. Its "high performance business" strategy builds on our expertise in consulting, technology and outsourcing to help clients perform at the highest levels so they can create sustainable value for their customers and shareholders.

For further information: http://www.accenture.it

Fondazione Filarete has been created in 2008 by University of Milan, Cariplo Foundation and Intesa Sanpaolo Bank. The Chamber of Commerce of Milan has joined the group as Co-founding Member.
The goal on the Foundation is is to promote the transfer of knowledge and research in life sciences filed from universities to the production processes and business system. The Foundation also aims at creating, hosting and nurturing high-tech entrepreneurial initiatives in the field of biopharmacology and biomedicine. This is why Filarete Foundation evaluates, assists and accelerates new entrepreneurial initiatives for the design, pharmacological characterization and delivery of innovative drugs.
In order to offer new companies a complete service, Fondazione Filarete has adopted a dual operational profile:
- it offers scientific, technological and logistic support through the Business Accelerator;
- it provides financial advisory and business development services.

For further information: http://www.fondazionefilarete.com

Parco Tecnologico Padano is the engine of the Lodi Cluster which hosts many organizations involved in the ag-biotech sector, including: the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Agricultural Sciences of the University of Milan, and public and private research labs. The Park also hosts an enterprise Incubator which makes Lodi one of the main European Agro-Biotech Clusters.
The mission of PTP is to build a business-oriented research network in ag-biotech able to:
-    address regional needs,
-    perform cutting-edge research to support innovation in the agro-food sector,
-    promote the creation of start-up and spin-off companies by offering know-how, incubator facilities and administrative services.
PTP has developed the initiative Incubatore ALIMENTA to bridge the gap between research and market for the Agro-Food and Health sectors by offering support to academic and company spin offs and start ups.
ALIMENTA intends to be an Incubator for academic and company spin offs and start up enterprises in the Agro-Food and Health sector. Thanks to the various services and incentives that the Incubator offers, the new enterprises can get off the ground and grow more easy to a successful company. The initiative supports potential entrepreneurs in the difficult phase of transforming a scientific idea into a commercial enterprise. In the Pre-Incubation Phase the Incubator helps entrepreneurs to verify the sustainability of the project and selects the most promising ideas.

For further information: http://www.tecnoparco.org

Merck Serono is the division for innovative prescription pharmaceuticals of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a global pharmaceutical and chemical company. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Merck Serono discovers, develops, manufactures and markets innovative small molecules and biopharmaceuticals to help patients with unmet medical needs in specialists focused therapeutic areas, including neurodegenerative diseases, oncology, fertility, endocrinology and cardiometabolic diseases.
Merck Serono S.p.A., Italian subsidiary of Merck KGaA, operates in Italy with 648 employees divided among the headquarters in Rome, the R&D centre of Guidonia Montecelio and the production site of Bari.
In addition, Merck Serono SpA owns 100% of the Institute of Biomedical Research "Antoine Marxer" RBM SpA in Colleretto Giacosa, an important research center with a staff of 177 employees. Through integration between business activities and those of production and research, Merck Serono SpA is a center of excellence and a reality of strategic importance for the Group.

For further information: http://www.merckserono.it