Beyond the Horizon - IES Program Final Event
Beyond the Horizon
We went abroad to look at others. We came back to look at ourselves.
What changes when researchers step outside their usual context and experience different ways of turning knowledge into innovation?
Beyond the Horizon is the final event of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Scenarios (IES) Global Immersive Program, an international programme organised by the University of Turin and designed in collaboration with Startup Genome, with the support of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo.
The programme brought together 18 UniTo researchers with entrepreneurial ambitions, selected across different disciplines, scientific fields and roles around concrete ideas and projects. Through immersive experiences in Singapore and Silicon Valley, participants explored innovation ecosystems geographically, culturally and structurally distant from their own, observing how research, creativity, entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer and venture creation can be organised and supported through different models.
The aim was not to identify a single “best” ecosystem, nor to replicate what works elsewhere. It was to widen the range of possibilities and opportunities: to experience different architectures for innovation, question familiar assumptions and use that distance to look again at the system we started from.
Beyond the Horizon brings that experience back to Turin.
The event combines the perspectives of the researchers who took part in the programme with a broader reflection on the conditions that enable research-driven innovation and entrepreneurship to emerge.
The international perspective will be further expanded by Albert Demargne, Head of Commercialisation at InnovationRCA - Royal College of Art (London), bringing another example of how research, creativity, entrepreneurship and venture creation can come together within a different university model.
From Singapore and Silicon Valley to London and back to Turin, the conversation will move from individual projects and experiences to the wider innovation landscape.
Programme
14:30–15:00 | Registration
15:00–15:10 | The Departure – Welcome & Setting the Scene
An introduction to the IES Global Immersive Program, its participants and the questions that led the journey beyond the local ecosystem.
Prof. Marco Pironti – Vice-Rector for Innovation and Knowledge Valorisation, University of Turin
15:10–15:40 | Beyond the Horizon – Keynote
Albert Demargne – Head of Commercialisation, InnovationRCA – Royal College of Art, London
15:40–15:50 | Audience Q&A
15:50–16:25 | The Journey – From Singapore and Silicon Valley Back to Turin
IES participants reflect on their immersive experiences: what challenged their assumptions, what surprised them, and what changed in the way they look at their paths and possibilities.
Eugenio Alladio, Federica Barontini and Sonja Visentin, in conversation with Michele Osella - Head of Innovation, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo
16:25–16:55 | The Map After the Journey – Building the Conditions for Innovation
Fireside Chat: Stephan Kuester – Managing Partner, Startup Genome in conversation with Michele Osella – Head of Innovation, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo
Moving from individual experiences to the wider innovation ecosystem, the conversation will explore the conditions that enable research-driven innovation and entrepreneurship to emerge, drawing on Startup Genome’s global perspective and the experience of the IES program.
16:55–17:05 | Audience Q&A
17:05–17:15 | Looking Ahead – Closing Reflections
Key takeaways from the journey and a look at the questions, opportunities and possible directions emerging from the experience.
Prof. Valentina dell'Oste, Member of the Spin-off Committee, University of Turin
From 17:15 | Networking Aperitivo
Albert Demargne and Stephan Kuester will join the event remotely.
Event curated by the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office – Entrepreneurship & Spin-off Unit, University of Turin, ufficio.spinoff@unito.it.