The second international call of the Leonardo accelerator is about to start to select,  in a 3-year period, 30 startups; in 2023, startups are invited to propose innovative  solutions in the simulation and gamification and networking & cybersecurity sectors.

Online applications are open until March 24th and a roadshow for the promotion of the  second call is ready to start: the selected startups will attend a 6-month acceleration  program at Leonardo’s BIF spaces at the LVenture Group Hub

During the acceleration phase, startups will be able to develop a Proof of Concept (PoC) directly with the different business units of Leonardo

The second edition of the Business Innovation Factory (BIF), Leonardo’s  startup accelerator created in partnership with LVenture Group is about to start. After the great success  of the first edition, the accelerator stood out within the Italian innovation ecosystem as an excellence  centre for the development of high-potential technological solutions.  

The second call is open to national and international university startups and spin-offs – also in the  constitution phase – and it focuses on two specific verticals. The first one is the simulation and  gamification area which is about the development of solutions for the simulation of realistic scenarios  and digital twin to improve analysis, planning and management of critical missions, solutions of serious  gaming for applications of remote simultaneous training and solutions to improve support and  involvement of clients in using and managing Leonardo’s platforms. 

The second vertical, networking & cybersecurity, includes IoT cybersecurity solutions and  infrastructures of communications based on software, Zero-Trust Security applications, data protection  and cryptography, Active Defence, quantum communication and quantum computing. 

Startups will be able to apply directly online on the www.leonardoaccelerator.com website by  filling out the dedicated form until March 24th. During the application period, there is going to be a  roadshow for the promotion of the second call of BIF that will stop over in Naples, Milan, Tel Aviv,  London and Munich. The acceleration program focuses on the pre-seed/seed phase in line with the call  requirements and a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that can be demonstrated. Startups in acceleration  will be able to demonstrate their ability and maturity in confirming the technological solution on specific  Leonardo’s use cases by planning and developing a Proof of Concept (PoC) directly with  Leonardo’s business units. 

The selected startups will participate in the six-month acceleration program in the Business  Innovation Factory spaces at the Hub of LVenture Group in Rome, one of the leading innovation hubs  in Europe. The program, carried out by LVenture Group, will share the vertical skills of its team in the  main strategic areas for business growth with the startups, according to their unique Full-Stack approach:  360° support from acceleration to exit. 

The second edition of Business Innovation Factory is part of the three-year course of the accelerator  that aims to select up to ten startups per year, for a total of 30, that can develop innovative solutions to  contribute to widening the offer of digital services of Leonardo that is between the worldwide leaders for  Aerospace, Defense and Security. The launch of the Business Innovation Factory is part of Leonardo’s  approach to innovation that is based, according to the Be Tomorrow 2030 strategic growth plan, on  interaction and collaboration between different internal and external players, to encourage the sharing of  ideas and knowledge, fueling opportunities for new essential technological solutions.

The first edition of BIF – focused on servitization and autonomous systems verticals – obtained great  success: more than 170 applications and 41% of them were foreign. The analysis of the projects from  the dedicated Leonardo’s team supported by LVenture Group led to defining a short list composed of  twenty startups that include the best ten startups accepted by the first BIF’s 5-month acceleration program  which concluded in October 2022 with the demo day displaying the results achieved by the entrepreneurs.  Two of them – the Swedish Canary Bit (servitization area), which develops solutions of confidential  computing for the safe management of B2B data exchange, and the Italian Volta Structural Energy (autonomous systems area), which produces structural ion aluminium batteries – got an investment from  Leonardo.