Attention and passion for sailing is rekindled in Italy: the choice of Naples as the venue for the next Louis Vuitton and America’s Cup regattas, announced by the Italian government with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the forefront together with Grant Dalton, CEO and guru of Team New Zealand, has brought the sea back to the centre of national and international debate. A clear signal that the Mediterranean, and Naples in particular, can once again become protagonists not only in sport but also in innovation.
Right from the heart of the Port of Naples: the Molo San Vincenzo, a symbolic place in Italian naval history and home to the first boat factory in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Antonio Prigiobbo, founder and director of NaStartUp (as well as author of contributions to Startupbusiness), chose to develop the 113th StartupLive event.
A special event, organised in partnership with the Mascalzone Latino Sailing School, the only sailing school in Italy born from the direct experience of the America’s Cup. Founded by Vincenzo Onorato and hosted by the Italian Navy, the school represents a virtuous model of sport and social inclusion: here, children from 6 to 18 years of age from disadvantaged or disabled backgrounds are educated in sailing and the values of sport.
“The sea of Naples the Mediterranean is full of meanings and significance: the port of Naples is not just a logistical hub, but a living laboratory of productive, economic and innovation stories. The sea becomes a concrete metaphor for start-ups and for a new business model: inclusive, sustainable, connected. It was humanity’s first great network, a fabric that intertwined economies and cultures, and still continues to offer us opportunities for innovation. Although today it seems like a finite space, surpassed by stellar space, the sea still has much to discover and teach us. That is why the sea is not just a horizon: it is an origin, and above all a future,’ says Prigiobbo.
Doing the honours, Antonietta De Falco, director of the Mascalzone Latino Sailing School and FIV (Italian Sailing Federation) Federal Councillor, who recalled the social role of sailing as a training tool, capable of generating skills and professional paths. Alongside her, nautical entrepreneur Filippo D’Arrigo: “The sea can become the engine of a new ecosystem of work and inclusion.
Representatives of the institutions were also present. Antonella Ciaramella, coordinator of the Campania Region’s vocational training department, emphasised the urgency of innovating training, focusing on transversal skills and on concrete alliances between schools, companies, associations and territories. Luigi Carbone, chairman of the Culture, Tourism and Productive Activities Commission of the City of Naples, reiterates support for those who innovate by networking public, private and civil society.
From boats to start-ups: four innovative projects were presented in this edition: Marco Tedesco tells of Besteam, a platform that combines sport, gaming and metaverse in a virtual football career supported by real training and IoT devices; Alessandro Saetta presents Terroir from Space, which uses AI and satellite data to support viticulture in times of climate crisis; then Antonino Russo updates on the evolution of The Skipper Academy, the academy that trains professional skippers for the nautical charter market; finally, Adriano Cirasa, 18, introduces his project to make boats more environmentally friendly.
NAStartUp does not only accelerate start-ups, but the entire ecosystem such as certified incubators, fostering synergies and new opportunities. At the event, Vincenzo Vitale, CEO of SEI Ventures, presented the activities of the incubator active in inland Italian areas, where it has regenerated depopulated communities by incubating over 60 start-ups and is now working to open a new hub in Bassano del Grappa.
Pasquale Brancaccio, founder of INHUSE – Innovation hub south Europe, announces the dematerialisation of the incubator’s shares, now registered on Euronext Securities Milan with an ISIN code, making them recognisable and tradable globally.
The panel devoted to alternative finance saw Luigi Nardullo, CEO of Creazionedimpresa_it, announce the agreement with Opstart for concrete tools to support innovative start-ups and SMEs.
Space is also given to the blue economy with Giancarlo Donadio’s report, developed with Pandant for NAStartUp: a EUR 64 billion sector in Italy, with 227,000 companies involved and technologies ranging from offshore wind power to underwater robotics. “The blue economy is the great opportunity of the South: it combines innovation, sustainability and economic development”.
Closing the event, Mariagrazia Iacono of Lauro Holding announced the birth of a permanent Open Innovation programme, involving NAStartUp together with universities, ship owners, sailing clubs and other institutional players in the port of Naples, in view of the America’s Cup. The aim: to enhance the economy of the sea and activate new synergies.
Supporting the initiative was a message from ship owner Salvatore Lauro: ‘We cannot miss this opportunity. If we accelerate together, we can generate real benefits for Naples and Italy.”
It is a reflection that has the wind in its sails: because the America’s Cup is not just a regatta, it can become a driving force for the entire innovation ecosystem, so it is crucial to get on course. (photo: Claudio Cimmelli)
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