MEMBERSHIP
The TLS Foundation has created and continues to implement cooperation networks in the Life Sciences field with the objective of offering incubated companies the possibility of accessing contacts and opportunities that are difficult to develop on one’s own. TLS, in particular, participates actively in the activities of the two most important associations in the relevant sector: the National Association for the Promotion of Biotechnologies (Assobiotec) and the Association of Italian Science and Technology Parks (APSTI).
The national technological cluster ALISEI promotes and valorizes – through strategic inter-institutional operations among companies, universities, and public research institutions – innovation and interaction in one of the main areas of strategic interest for Italian industry: the Life Sciences. ALISEI has a very broad shareholder base (two business associations, four national research institutions, and twelve institutions representing as many regional administrations) with a view toward becoming a protagonist and promoter of the needs and potential for development arising from the sector as a whole. Due to its nature as an association, the ALISEI cluster is positioned as a promoter of strategic development, accelerator of the transfer of knowledge and technologies from multidisciplinary research to the pharmaceutical-biomedical industry, and a facilitator of the attraction of public and/or private capital, which is essential for the development of innovative projects. The TLS Foundation represents the Tuscany Region within the cluster and has contributed to the constitution of the association and developing the strategic five-year plan.
With its Science Park, TLS is part of APSTI, the national network of Italian Science and Technology Parks, which brings together the majority of the STP (31 members) representative of almost all Italian regions to sustain economic development through innovation. The association works through technical commissions animated by the member parks on industry issues, including the development of the industrial biotechnologies. The latter commission is coordinated by TLS.
Assobiomedica, established in 1984, is the federation of Confindustria that represents the companies that provide medical devices to public and private Italian healthcare facilities, ranging from chemical reagents for the analysis of blood and biological tissues to heart surgery, implantable prostheses, electromedical equipment, hearing aids, herbal products, surgical instruments, operating room equipment and intensive care units. Assobiomedica, to which most of the Italian companies of the biomedical sector are associated, aims to be the most representative interlocutor for companies toward the institutions of the health sector, both public and private, and scientific, technical and professional associations.
The National association for the development of the biotechnologies represents the companies that work in Italy in the different sectors of application of the industrial biotechnologies. The head of business development of TLS is a member of the Directive Commission of Assobiotec and coordinates the activities of the Unitary Technical Commission on the biotechnologies, which has the aim of pursuing objectives that are common to the Italian science parks on themes of “seed financing”, company incubation and the international visibility of localized companies.
CEBR was founded in 2016 with the aim of creating in Milan – at the former Ansaldo site – an open innovation hub based on the contamination of skills between SMEs and large companies, innovative startups, incubators and accelerators, universities and research centers, schools and training institutes, fablabs, informal education settings, investors and professionals. Cariplo Factory promotes, develops and implements open innovation projects, innovative corporate-social responsibility programs and initiatives aimed at exploiting young talents, as well as acceleration paths for the growth of startups, through an organic and collaborative approach.
CEBR is a network of biotechnology specialists which support their local community with direct services such as network, incubation, partnering and cluster promotion. CEBR is managed by the members themselves: Full Members are the first point of contact for the biotechnology companies inside their own bio-community and include local networks, scientific and technology parks and incubators. Through their members CEBR developed a number of services which enrich and bring benefits to the members themselves and to the bio-community to which they belong. The main CEBR activities rule is that the communities must bring direct contributes to biotechnologies and can be implemented by all members at european level in favour of the SMEs working in the Biotech field.
The Toscana Life Sciences Foundation incubator is part of the Regional Enterprise Incubators Network System that was created in 2009 through the initiative of the Tuscany Region with the objective of promoting and advancing all of the public or private organizations that offer advanced services to new companies engaged in innovation and the development of the regional economic system. The network gathers together different kinds of incubators: technological, specialized technological and generalist.
The Toscana Life Sciences Foundation has been responsible for the coordination of the group of Italian BioParks, sponsored by Assobiotec and APSTI, which includes the Italian science parks with a special emphasis in the biotechnologies sector, since 2008.
TLS is part of the Regional Network of the Technology Transfer System (TecnoRETE) as a recognized incubator specialized in the Life Sciences sector. The objectives of the Network include promoting the steady increase of the quality of the services offered, disseminating and promoting good practices, encouraging cooperation among the subjects that adhere to the network, and maximizing the use of innovative services by businesses.
Chicago-based University Technology Park at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Toscana Life Sciences Foundation located in Siena, Italy,have entered into a three-year agreement to partner in the joint promotion of their bio-clusters and their life sciences-focused companies. The partnership includes commitments by each organization to assist the other’s companies in locating new markets and customers, to host those company executives when they visit their respective territories, and to exchange ideas and information on the economic development of their regions.
