California and Silicon Valley

The relations of the Emilia-Romagna Region with California follow two paths.

• On the one hand, institutional relations with the California government have intensified since the 2015 mission. On that occasion, in San Francisco, the Region signed the Global Climate Leadership MoU of the Under2 Coalition with then-California Governor Jerry Brown, on the eve of COP21 in Paris.
• On the other hand, the Region maintains relations with Silicon Valley, where it has long had a hub for the development of innovative start-ups. Silicon Valley is a unique and globally important location. It is considered the centre of the global ecosystem of start-ups and innovation, where most investment funds, research partners and business opportunities are concentrated.

Silicon Valley represents the heart of the world’s innovation ecosystem. It is a 70-kilometre-long peninsula, stretching from San José to San Francisco. It is inhabited by more than 3 million people and it has the highest percentage of foreigners in the entire United States (around 36.4% compared to a US average of 13%). The area is home to 150 ‘unicorns’ (companies worth more than $1 billion), out of 300 worldwide, around 30,000 start-ups (but the number is growing) and it attracts 43% of venture capital investments in the United States, amounting to more than $150 billion per year. The presence of European hubs in this area is significant (Denmark, France, Switzerland and Spain are just a few of the States with dedicated innovation centres active in the Bay Area). However, the Emilia-Romagna Region has for many years been the only Italian reference point for innovation and start-up support. In 2015, the Region decided to be present in Silicon Valley in order to support and guide regional start-ups in their internationalisation process and in fundraising. Main areas of cooperation:

• Fight against climate change alongside the California government. The Region signed the Under2MoU in 2015 and attended the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco in September 2018, at the invitation of then California Governor Jerry Brown.
• The Silicon Valley programme for high-tech start-ups and innovative companies, with the activation of permanent partnerships with Californian universities, incubators and high-tech companies for training, collaboration and the creation of bilateral opportunities.                                                                                                             

In June 2019, the State of California joined the initiative launched by the Emilia-Romagna Region by signing the Declaration “Regions for Global Sustainable Development”, on the occasion of the conference “Regions for global development” organised in Bologna.

Under2 Coalition

In the framework of the internationalisation strategy “Emilia-Romagna Go Global” and of policies to fight climate change, in November 2015, the Emilia-Romagna Region signed the Under2MoU  (Subnational Global Climate Leadership Memorandum of Understanding) promoted by the State of California and the Region of Baden-Wurttemberg.

Although it was neither a contract nor a treaty, the Memorandum of Understanding bound the signatory Regions and States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 90% below 1990 levels, or below two tonnes per capita by 2050. In September 2021, the Under2 Coalition updated its MoU, bringing it in line with the newest and most urgent European and international goals, namely introducing carbon neutrality by 2050. The Region approved its signature to the new MoU by Regional Council Decree no. 1729/2021, as it is in line with its own policies.

Since 2018, the Emilia-Romagna Region has been part of the Steering Group (StG) together with 16 other sub-national governments. The only other Italian Region to be part of it is Lombardy. The tasks of the Steering Group (StG) are to support the Co-Chairs in defining the Coalition’s goals and to identify the projects through which these goals are to be achieved. The Secretariat, run by the Climate Group (a London-based NGO), opened an office in Brussels in 2018. There, it seeks to have a close relationship with the European Commission, also with the support of some particularly active and effective European Regions, such as Baden-Wurttemberg, Wales and Catalonia. The Emilia-Romagna Region constantly participates in Steering Group meetings and in Assemblies, as well as in the various projects promoted by the Under2 Coalition.

The Silicon Valley programme for high-tech start-ups and innovative companies

The Silicon Valley programme, which initially focused on start-ups, was progressively extended to small and medium-sized enterprises, corporations, incubators and Clust-ERs, as well as American investors invited to participate in the “Research to Business” fair in Bologna. In total, almost a hundred innovative companies, 11 incubators and the regional ecosystem as a whole benefited from these initiatives. Various agreements were also signed with local stakeholders to strengthen cooperation between the two areas.

ART-ER’s office in San Francisco was also able to make contact with a number of other technologically advanced areas in North America. It identified leading experiences and potential partners with whom to develop specific collaborations. ART-ER’s office in Silicon Valley acts as a bridge between Emilia-Romagna and North America. It is responsible for providing guidance to players in the regional innovation ecosystem (companies, incubators, universities, Clust-ERs, etc.) and making contacts in Silicon Valley to expand the existing network. It participates in innovation events to gather best practices and ideas to design new measures, as well as in the bi-monthly meetings of European representatives in Silicon Valley. ART-ER’s office involves innovative enterprises from Emilia-Romagna in internationalisation programmes and opportunities promoted by ART-ER’s partners, including the Italian Trade Agency (ICE), the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN), the Network of Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad, etc.

In 2021, the office was physically installed at the Silicon Valley Italian Hub, a strategically important hub in Silicon Valley and a reference point for Italian companies in the area. The Hub is managed by Lombardstreet Ventures, with which ART-ER entered into a partnership. This development makes it possible to strengthen the presence of Emilia-Romagna in Silicon Valley. This is important to seize the opportunities that Silicon Valley can offer to the Emilia-Romagna players and to capitalise on the experience gained through the actions carried out in from 2015 to 2020. The ultimate goal is to better support the Emilia-Romagna ecosystem in this historical moment of constant change, which is characterised by a strong instability and by the need for innovation.  The direct beneficiaries of the programmes implemented in Silicon Valley and of the relationships developed were start-ups, SMEs, large companies, universities, students, research centres, Clust-ERs, incubators and other regional innovation players.

Mindset program

Activated thanks to the presence in Silicon Valley, the Mindset program, now in its eighth edition in 2022, has the following objectives:

• supporting regional start-ups and companies in their internationalisation efforts;
• creating new business and growth opportunities for the regional ecosystem;
• acquiring the Silicon Valley ‘mindset’ and transferring it to the local context in order to make improvements.

The more than 60 start-ups that participated in the Mindset Program had the opportunity to meet multinationals such as Google, PayPal, Tesla, and accelerators such as 500 Startups, Plug and Play, Berkeley SkyDeck, as well as successful Italian entrepreneurs.

Relations with the California government

The relations initiated during Governor Brown’s term of office were further strengthened during a mission of the Region led by President Stefano Bonaccini in November 2022. During a meeting, President Bonaccini and the Lieutenant Governor of California, Eleni Kounalakis, identified a number of topics of shared interest for future collaboration. They also confirmed the intention to sign a cooperation agreement between the Emilia-Romagna Region and the government of California. The topics they identified are: the fight against climate change, Big Data and artificial intelligence, and agriculture.