nir-vana innovation network

The organization is an Italian leading biotechnology cluster whose shareholders are 55 innovators operating in Life Science, Bioeconomy and Agri-food sectors. The bring the expertise of 13 leading Italian universities, the National Research Council and over 40 SMEs active in the industrial biotechnology fields on green chemistry, agri-food, and pharmaceutical applications.
The cluster supports biotechnology innovation, promotion and broad applications, environmental sustainability, and knowledge sharing. It encourages networking & cooperation and technological transfer among its members, which include representatives of academia, R&D actors and business sectors. The cluster works on creating a permanent and cutting-edge platform to boost innovation by providing support in three main business areas: Innovation, Technology Transfer, Communication & Training. It is involved in over 30 innovation projects focused on R&D technology application design, innovation management, business development of promising biotech solutions. The projects are typically co-financed from regional, national and EU funding. The cluster is also founding member of the Lombardy Green Chemistry Cluster and technical coordinator the Bioeconomy Pilot of the Vanguard Initiative, a network of 35 European regions committed in improving interregional cooperation through the Smart Specialization Strategy.
The cluster is currently seeking to establish Research cooperation agreements with similar European clusters, to work together on exploratory R&D of new solutions and technologies in the fields of life science, bioeconomy, agri-food as well as correlated scientific sectors, where breakthrough technologies find application. The cluster also offers to establish commercial agreements with technical assistance to assist other clusters in their development strategy by exchanging of best practices, to reciprocally widen the portfolio of support services and ultimately contribute to enhance competitiveness in the EU research environment.

Advantages & innovations

The cluster is composed of 55 operators and innovators among Universities, scientific foundations, and SMEs whose aim is to contribute shaping the innovation ecosystem made of start-ups, SMEs, universities on biotechnology for sustainable growth and innovation management development. The scientific cluster provides for a wide range of services in view of the large services offered by its members. Such services are strictly connected to research and development and belong to three main areas. The first set of advanced services refers to innovation management, thereby including biotechnology transfer such as acceleration & incubation for start-ups, business plan design, due-diligences, market studies & analysis, fundraising and project management. The second set of services refers to consulting support on EU funding, with reference to grants & applications, evaluation, audit & financial compliance. Thirdly, the last field of specialization refers to communication and dissemination activities, policy studies, industrial and academic training courses delivery.

Stage of development

Already on the market

Partner sought

The cluster would like to establish research cooperation agreements with similar EU clusters, to developing their together growth strategies based on R&D cooperation in the frame of EU financed opportunities. Based on this, the objective is to further contribute to developing national and/or regional support services, thus ensuring that the most promising high-potential innovation proposals of start-ups / SMEs are supported within their critical stages of development. The research cooperation agreement sought aims to identify clusters or similar organizations to establish bilateral R&D cooperation. Such cooperation is to be supported by a cooperative environment, to learn from each other, exchange best practices, to provide high-level support services to start-ups and SMEs’ innovation projects. The cluster is also interested in signing commercial agreements with technical assistance, in case the partner would like to receive support with the development of their communication or growth strategy, including technical assistance and training, to improve their positioning on the local market.