The AdWisers together with Pedal-Consulting and all consortium members are honored to invite you to the unveiling of the USAID Invest Italy signature project

Wednesday 2nd December 11:00 CET. 

The virtual event will be in English and you can register here.

Background information and contacts are available at the end of the text.

We will present opportunities offered by the project to investors and companies that can receive support through fresh funding along with customized high-level technical assistance through the upcoming open calls for applications. 

The event will see the participation of high-level representatives from U.S. and Italian authorities, together with the leadership of the project, key experts and partners:

Ms. Gretchen Birkle, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator, U.S. Embassy to Italy representatives and Italian authority representatives, will provide their opening remarks highlighting the cooperation between the U.S. and Italy.

Mr. Tomas Matraia, CEO of The AdWisers and Mr. Robert Miskuf, CEO of PEDAL-Consulting will provide important information about project’s opportunities. 

Prof. Giancarlo Giudici, Politecnico di Milano – School of Management and Mr. Jan Bormans, CEO of European Startup Network will provide useful insights for investors and investees.

The event will be moderated by Susanna Albertini, FVA Sas - project partner

OBJECTIVE:

To present investors and companies the opportunities arising from the USAID support and how to take advantage of them and participate to the open call.

TARGET PARTICIPANTS: 

Potential beneficiaries (investors and companies ramping up technology and operations, companies retooling, companies bringing innovative solutions, services, and products to market in response to COVID-19).

CONCEPT:

The project we have designed and are now implementing, was born to tackle one of the greatest challenges of our times: Support with fresh funding and high-level technical assistance, the best companies providing solutions and/or products to fight COVID-19. 

We have done this via a groundbreaking approach resulting in an integrated and effective one-stop-shop leveraging catalytic capital from the public sector with private investors. By injecting innovation, sustainability, international competitiveness, humanitarian and development aid components, we open new paths to achieve social, economic and human impact. 

While supporting the public sector’s efforts with private resources and markets innovative solutions, we fight COVID-19 but look beyond: By connecting funding, markets and policies by design, we foster economic re-launch, jobs creation and modernization processes.

This, to help Italy and the world fighting Covid-19 and winning future challenges.

BACKGROUND:

Italy was among the earliest countries to report COVID-19 cases, and it was among the hardest-hit. With infections increasing around the world, the global market for medical supplies has tightened, and Italy has an opportunity to ramp up local production.

As a part of the U.S. Government’s commitment to help Italy respond to COVID-19 and its socio-economic impacts, USAID is supporting businesses that are engaged in the research, development, or manufacture of therapeutics, vaccines, medical equipment, and supplies to respond to COVID-19. USAID is working with Italian, European, and American businesses to increase the local manufacture of PPE (personal protectiveequipment), ventilators, COVID-19 tests, and other medical supplies in the areas of Italy that were most affected by the pandemic. This activity is one element of USAID’s $50 million commitment to Italy to help save lives and build resilience for the future.

THE INVEST INITIATIVE

USAID’s INVEST initiative supports the Agency’s efforts to mobilize private capital aligned with international development goals.

It will take a two-pronged approach, combining catalytic capital to attract additional private investment with technical assistance to help PPE manufacturers retool their production lines and increase their investment-readiness. Through INVEST, USAID will assist a wide swath of Italian manufacturers, and will provide support to those that demonstrate significant potential for impact.  

PEDAL-Consulting is one partner on USAID’s INVEST Initiative in Italy and The AdWisers is a founding member of the international consortium of top players.

The AdWisers plays a crucial role as it supports the overall leadership and coordination and is responsible for the strategy, partnerships and technical assistance provision.

By leveraging USAID catalytic capital, we will unlock $10 million from private investors to support selected Italian companies and we will combine it with customized technical assistance. Beneficiaries will be companies bringing innovative solutions to the market, along with those ramping up their technology and operations as well as companies retooling production. By increasing companies’ resilience to respond to future challenges the projects addresses also sustainability and the transition to the post-covid economy.

Target companies:

The project will support Italian companies contributing to COVID-19 response:

Companies ramping up technology and operations

Companies retooling their production

Companies bringing innovative solutions, services, and products to the market

Sectors:

Prevention:

Personal protection (PP)

Sanitization

Social gathering and transmission avoidance

Information and awareness

Tracking

Immunization

Other

Testing

Disease prognosis

Rapid testing

Other

Care & crisis management

Distance medical care

ICU support

Medical devices (MDs)

Advanced analytics for R&D

Logistic support

Social support and recovery

Other

THE CONSORTIUM:

PEDAL Consulting s.r.o. a business management consultancy based in Slovakia, brings together a multidisciplinary consortium of leading players at EU and Italian level:

The AdWisers SP. Z O.O Strategic advisory and internationalization consultancy (Poland)

FVA SAS DI LOUIS FERRINI & C Communication, outreach and media experts (Italy)

AIFI Italian Association of Private Equity Venture Capital, and Private Debt (Italy)

IBAN Italian Business Angels Network (Italy)

Italia Startup Italian entrepreneurial network (Italy)

UCBM Universita Campus BioMedico di Roma (Italy)

ESN European Startup Network (Belgium)

CNR National Research Council of Italy (Italy)

The consortium is complemented by a High Level Advisory Board

CONTACTS:

Project coordinator: Robert Miskuf  r.miskuf@pedal-consulting.eu

Communication Manager: Louis Ferrini ferrini@fvaweb.it