The institutional and business delegation from the Province of Milan has successfully concluded its tour of the San Francisco Bay Area. The heart of the initiative was to be a “learning journey” where a Milan institutional and business delegation visited California, in particular the San Francisco and the Silicon Valley areas, sharing experiences in technology transfer, business development, finance and research.

The delegation consisted of 20 people: 9 business representatives (Technology and Biotechnology companies) and 11 institutional representatives from the Province of Milan. A total of 22 meetings were arranged between April 19th and 23rd 2004 with 3 main paths: Technology, Biotechnology, and Institutional. Over 20 one-to-one meetings were organized between the Italian business delegation and US companies interested in partnership opportunities.

This commercial mission was organized by BIC La Fucina and sponsored by the Province of Milan. Project4U is BIC La Fucina's partner in the San Francisco Bay Area and was responsible for the local organization of the entire delegation.

Milan-to-California project in the PRESS:

Il Sole 24 Ore: Il dopo bolla e il made in Italy (May 3rd 2004)
Radio Interview on RADIO 24: Le imprese dell'ICT e il ruolo del Bic La Fucina

The Digital Gate to California project is reserved for small - and medium - sized high - technology companies in Lombardy, and is designed to support the development of partnerships between Lombard and Californian companies operating in the most innovative sectors by means of bilateral one-to-one relationships.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• To support the development of synergies, partnerships, and commercial, technological and production exchanges between Italian and Californian companies operating in innovative sectors;
• to create a stable platform of collaboration founded on institutional and business relationships between Lombardy and the areas of excellence in California;
• to valorise the Milanese economic system and its excellences;
• to favour the transfer of know-how by means of cutting-edge companies;
• to promote a broader cultural exchange between Italy and California.
  

METHODOLOGY
The initial phase of the project involves selecting the local companies and analysing their internationalisation needs in detail: this will make it possible to identify the Californian companies interested in developing new business relationships on the basis of predefined objectives. Subsequently, a detailed report will be drawn up concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the selected companies, as well as the risks and opportunities of the new market of reference.

The companies who have identified interesting opportunities of collaboration will be provided with guidance and assistance in terms of in local meetings with the project partners, the definition of strategies and operational methods for penetrating the market, the drawing up of a business model, and logistics.
Furthermore, using a "virtual matching" technique, BIC La Fucina regularly reports the most interesting business opportunities for Italian companies by means of the publication of "Technology Watch" an information bulletin concerning the activities of California's areas of technological excellence.

PROJECT TARGETS
The small- and medium - sized companies in Lombardy interested in sounding out the potential of the Californian market, particularly those characterised by innovative product or process strategies regardless of their area of production.
Given the vocation of the Bay Area, the main but not exclusive emphasis will be given to the sectors of Biotechnology and ICT.