Since its inception in 2009, the Global Entrepreneurship Congress has been hosted by Kansas City, United States, Dubai, UAE, Shanghai, China, Liverpool, UK, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Moscow, Russia. By traveling to so many different parts of the world, the Congress has become an opportunity for international delegates from over 150 countries to better understand each host country’s ecosystem.
This year, some of the best and brightest from the Italian entrepreneurial ecosystem will take the stage to highlight their ecosystem as one of the topics discussed during the global gathering of startup champions. Joining the collection of speakers from five continents, the Italian speakers promise to offer invaluable insight.
Benedetta Arese Lucini, regional co-manager for Uber Europe, will speak during the Entrepreneurial Cities Forum about disruptions that innovative entrepreneurs bring to cities. In her early career, life as a banker didn’t satisfy her creativity so she went to New York City to earn an MBA from NYU, focusing on “Business of Technology, Media and Entertainment.” It was there that she discovered her love for the world of technology and startups. She moved to San Francisco and worked with Credit Suisse to help many startups in their IPO processes and then moved to Malaysia to work for ecommerce startup Rocket Internet. With a wealth of experience, she returned to her beloved Italy to work for Uber, with the dream of creating an innovative ecosystem in her home country.
Andrea Illy is the chairman and CEO of illy. He spearheaded the company’s global expansion, bringing the illy experience to cafes, restaurants, hotels and retailers in more than 140 countries, where six million cups of illy coffee are now served every day. A chemist by training, he continually shares his knowledge of coffee’s chemistry and other scientific and technical aspects, from agronomy to packaging. He is currently president of the Association for Science and Information on Coffee, the only independent scientific coffee organization.
Massimo Banzi is the cofounder of the Arduino project. Banzi started the first FabLab in Italy, which led to the creation of Officine Arduiono, a FabLab/Makerspace based in Torino. He is a regular contributor to the Italian edition of Wired Magazine and CheFuturo, an online magazine about innovation.
Offering a media perspective is Kristen Grove, a radio talk show host for Radio 105, one of Italy’s top three stations with over 5 million listeners. Grove has extensive background in the entertainment industry and in 2014 she was presented with a Stars and Stripes Award, which is given each year to an American citizen living in Italy who has been noteworthy for promoting US culture abroad. Grove was also chosen as one of 10 to participate in 2014’s Favella Creative Lab, which was tasked with writing and producing a video based on the idea of ‘freedom.’
Gianluca Dettori is the founder, partner and chairman of dpixel, an early-stage venture firm based in Italy specializing in the digital space. Dettori has been active in the Internet for over 20 years and in venture capital for the last 15. In 1999, he founded Vitaminic, a global platform for digital music distribution, holding the position of CEO and taking public. He writes about the Internet and venture capital for his blog, Wired Magazine, Il Sole 24 Ore and CheFuturo. Dettori is a Kauffman Fellow and fellow of the BMW Stifung Foundation.
Of course, a discussion of the Italian ecosystem would not be complete without government representation. The Deputy Mayor of Milan, Cristina Tajani, Minister of Economic DevelopmentFederica Guidi and Head of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Education, University and ResearchAlessandro Fusacchia among others will speak to the role of government in developing healthy entrepreneurial ecosystems at the Congress.
For attendees looking to satisfy niche interests, there will also be speakers for that. Roberto Battiston, president of the Italian Space Agency and Oscar Farnietti, founder and creator of Eataly, will speak about the role of innovation in their respective industries.
For more information about additional speakers, please visit gec.co.