OGR Tech mission and vision

Vision 


Become the most important national innovation hub
… creating a bridge with global tech hubs


Mission


Implement tech initiatives at an international level…
… to develop the local ecosystem through partnerships with global players


 


Objective


500 €M of investments to be catalysed in the OGR over the next 20 years
1000 startups to be accelerated, incubated and supported in their growth process


 

A 200-meter boulevard defines the wide central nave of OGR Tech, illuminated naturally by the large windows in the 16m high roof: on the sides of this spectacular perspective telescope - a real agora for the meeting between people and the exchange of ideas - there are two bays characterized by glass-walled areas for meeting rooms and open space offices on two floors, modular and flexible, with 500 “smart” workstations, 'social' tables, 'chat sofa', areas soundproof phone booths, ergonomic desks with adjustable heights in the style of Google Headquarters for maximum comfort at work. And more: 50 led wall and video wall screens for real-time transmission of news channels such as Bloomberg or CNBC, as well as content and direct streaming of global events such as TechCrunch Disrupt SF or Web Summit.


In this space of 12,000 square meters inside the Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin, where the nineteenth-century industrial architecture in bricks with trusses and iron pillars was entirely redeveloped by Fondazione CRT in an innovative way, to provide it with the best environmental sustainability standards and technological security - including a Tier III certified data processing center, one of the highest in Europe - today inaugurates an innovation hub dedicated to Tech among the largest in the country, with unique research projects.


Of the total 100 million euros allocated by Fondazione CRT for the revival and transformation of the former train workshops into workshops for ideas, 50 million have been invested in the restoration and preparation of the "Tech" area: software of excellence in historical hardware, transformed in the new mission of positioning Turin on the map of global innovation. With this last piece, the project of the new  OGR is completed, which also includes the "Cult" area (for art exhibitions, concerts, live shows and even virtual reality projects) and the "Taste" area of Snodo (for food & beverage), both inaugurated after a thousand days of work on 30 September 2017.


Focused on Tech and on some verticals of excellence such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, OGR Tech will host 4 different actors, with a view to positive "contamination" for the creation of an Italian innovation ecosystem: under one roof there will be startups, scaleups and accelerators of major global companies such as Techstars, based in Colorado, to support the growth of the territory and create "bridges" with the main European and US hubs; national and international corporate companies engaged in research and development, to launch open innovation paths; investors; applied research centers on smart data, with entities of excellence such as the Polytechnic University of Turin and ISI Foundation, which will launch the first Big Data center for non-profit organizations at the OGR, developing new indicators for assessing social impact in the philanthropic field.


“OGR Tech brings together talents, investments and a very broad puzzle of skills, connecting Turin to global excellences - declares OGR Managing Director and Secretary General of Fondazione CRT Massimo Lapucci -. The challenge of the new international innovation hub that we are inaugurating today is to help Italy fill part of the Tech gap, catalyzing half a billion euros of total investments and 1,000 new accelerated startups over the next twenty years in OGR.”


In this spirit, we wanted to have TALENT GARDEN by our side for both the management of the spaces and as a partner of excellence, to speedily make the new HUB of INNOVATION 'OGR Tech powered by Talent Garden' an international-level REFERENCE POINT connected to the main communities of tech, innovation and research.


This completes the rebirth of the first large factory in Turin: the reborn OGR are the visible sign of the transformation of a laboratory city, where historically many successful experiences related to art and culture have sprung up, as well as technological innovation and manufacturing. In both areas, OGR has the ambition to make the territory grow in an international dimension. This is why OGR is the new challenge for Turin to the world because they are the symbol of the identity and vocation of this city, whose future is increasingly linked to culture and innovation".


Under the aegis of OGR Tech, strategic alliances have been signed with international players: in addition to Techstars, which will launch in Turin an acceleration program on smart mobility a European exclusive in collaboration


with Fondazione CRT, Compagnia di San Paolo and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, other important partnerships involve Endeavor, the main global non- profit network for scale-up; Intesa-IBM Group, which inside OGR Tech will complete its Italian innovation campus on the Milan-Turin axis, aiming to increase the skills of the area on the topics of artificial intelligence and blockchain for top talents in collaboration with the Polytechnic of Turin; Talent Garden for the daily management of OGR Tech spaces, for community animation and for the natural connection with over 20 campuses across Europe. A link was also established with the US Embassy in Italy and the US State Department through Best (Business Exchange and Student Training), the Italy- US bilateral program, of which the OGR will be the "home" for the creation of high-tech start-ups in our country, after a period of training of young talents in Silicon Valley, leveraging on the international network under construction.


Amongst the very successful scale-ups ready to enter the OGR is Planet Idea, Italian excellence in the Smart City sector, which has just collected around 50 million euros on the market. There will also be tourism, smart mobility and virtual reality companies in the creative industries.