What previous experiences from your entrepreneurial journey could be of useful support in your new role as President of the Agire Foundation?
Throughout my career, I've had the great fortune of experiencing every phase of a company's life, both as an employee and as an entrepreneur, thanks in part to a solid education at the ETH Zurich. I've gained successful experience running businesses both in Switzerland and abroad, experiences that have left me with a strong entrepreneurial legacy. This journey has often taken place under complex and challenging conditions, such as my time in the United States, where I served as General Manager of North America for a Swiss company in a market dominated by incumbents, speaking a different language, with a different working culture, and in a completely new business environment. The same was true for my eleven-year role as Italy manager for a Swiss energy group, which at the time generated revenues of over two billion Swiss francs in Italy.
In recent years, however, I have been and continue to be an entrepreneur. This journey has allowed me to build relationships, acquire skills, and take on challenges that have profoundly enriched me, both professionally and personally. However, there comes a time in life and in one's career when one feels the need—and duty—to give back, at least in part, what one has received. This new role, which I have accepted with a great sense of honor and responsibility, represents precisely this for me: a concrete opportunity to make the experience I have gained over the years available to the region, its people, and businesses.
What is the specific purpose of the Agire Foundation in promoting entrepreneurial activities, and how does it intend to develop this mission during its mandate?
The mission is very clear and well-defined. This mandate can be summarized as promoting the innovation capacity, and consequently the competitiveness, of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including startups. The path to achieving this, however, requires careful reflection and restructuring, especially in light of the profound technological and social changes we are experiencing. Fondazione AGIRE is not starting from scratch; in fact, in recent years it has had the significant and indisputable merit of bringing a culture of innovation to Ticino, fostering a targeted and qualified mindset, both by collaborating with research centers and by bringing it closer to businesses and the local community. Initiatives such as Boldbrain Startup Challenge, Tecnopolo Ticino, Action Day, and Switzerland Innovation Park Ticino are testament to this. The ambition for the future is to direct these activities toward increasingly concrete objectives, generating a tangible economic and industrial return for the region. The recipe for even greater effectiveness is simple: work with commitment, humility, and a spirit of service, fostering collaboration among all local stakeholders. We must also look beyond local borders, taking inspiration from cities like Zurich, Milan, or Munich, which benefit from greater critical mass and broader resources.
How can Fondazione Agire concretely support startups in Ticino to ensure their sustainability and growth?
AGIRE Foundation attracts, stimulates, and supports startups in Ticino through a series of high-quality activities. These include the Boldbrain Startup Challenge accelerator , currently underway with the 20 best startups selected from over 140 applications; the provision of spaces and services at the Ticino Technology Park; the organization of meetings with investors; and targeted and timely coaching. In this context, AGIRE will continue to analyze in depth the real needs of startups and, together with other stakeholders in the Regional Innovation System, help them grow throughout their life cycle—from pre-seed to early growth—so that they can generate concrete benefits for the region: economic, entrepreneurial, reputational, social, and environmental.
What do you think needs to be done to promote the development of youth entrepreneurship in Ticino, and what specific initiatives do you intend to implement?
The topics of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship are particularly close to my heart. When, as eighteen-year-olds, we left for ETH Zurich, the idea was to work for a corporation, an institution, or an SME. Only a few, with a family business behind them, considered starting their own business. At the time, terms like startups, open innovation, scale-ups, venture building, or venture capital were virtually unknown. At most, the talk was about research and inventions. Youth entrepreneurship was extremely rare. Today, however, it's exciting to see the energy, passion, and vision with which young students and researchers pursue entrepreneurial projects. It's AGIRE 's job to train them, guide them, support them, make them aware of the risks and opportunities, and guide them so that their efforts translate into concrete and lasting initiatives.
What is your vision of entrepreneurship in Ticino and what, in your opinion, are the main challenges local entrepreneurs face today?
From my knowledge of the region, I certainly see a pragmatic and technical entrepreneurial landscape, capable of quality and specialization. However, the current challenges are complex and changes are difficult to predict. Beyond international political instability and market volatility, the technological challenges are evident and will have a profound impact on the way we do business. We experience them every day, almost without realizing it: chatbots, voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, writing and assistive creativity tools like Co-pilot or ChatGPT are now used daily, by teenagers and people of all ages. Implementing new technologies in the right way and at the right time will be the key to their success.
How do you see Ticino's future in terms of innovation over the next five to ten years, and which sectors could emerge as key players?
Making forecasts is always risky. An analyst once told me that forecasts are meant to be proven wrong. That said, it's possible to identify trends, and one of AGIRE's tasks is precisely to monitor them through structured and forecasting analyses, in order to define and implement the most effective support and assistance activities. At the moment, I think it's safe to say that some sectors are likely to have a significant impact, particularly: Life Sciences and Medtech/Digital Health; Artificial Intelligence and Computational Science; Automation and Robotics; Energy and Sustainable Technologies.
What collaborations or synergies do you think are important between the Agire Foundation and other institutions, companies, or local authorities to promote a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem?
Last but not least, as they say. Thank you for this question, which could be my first. We must be realistic: Ticino has approximately 358.000 inhabitants, Lombardy 10 million, and the Zurich area 2 million. It's an unequal challenge on paper, but precisely for this reason we must play our cards wisely. As the Ticino System, we have the opportunity to increasingly carve out a quality niche for ourselves, one that is recognized and appreciated. To do so, every player—public and private—must humbly acknowledge their own potential and limitations, act with commitment, passion, and professionalism, and above all collaborate efficiently and effectively. The encouragement of collaboration and the building of solid relationships must be the guiding principle of AGIRE's actions, also by virtue of its institutional nature: the Foundation's Board includes representatives of USI, SUPSI, AITI, CC-Ti, municipalities, and political institutions, with the Canton of Ticino as its main promoter. I strongly believe that sharing goals and activities is the key to generating lasting value, and it will be at the heart of my commitment."
