Terna S p A : signs key agreements for italian innovation in Silicon Valley

TERNA SIGNS KEY AGREEMENTS FOR ITALIAN INNOVATION

IN SILICON VALLEY

The agreements signed with Consul General of Italy in San Francisco and INNOVIT will foster U.S.

market access and growth for Italian start-ups and small businesses

Rome, 2 November 2023 - Terna's agreements with institutional partners in San Francisco aim to supercharge Italy's innovation ecosystem on a global scale, nurture pioneering Italian start-ups and small businesses, and open up direct pathways to the U.S. market.

Giuseppina Di Foggia, Terna's CEO and General Manager, and Sergio Strozzi, Consul General of Italy in San Francisco, signed a Letter of Intent, establishing their united commitment to empowering Italian start-ups seeking growth opportunities and local tech collaborations. At the same time, Massimiliano Garri, Executive Vice President for Innovation & Market Solutions at Terna, and Alberto Acito, Director of the Italian Innovation Centre at INNOVIT (Italian Innovation and Culture Hub), signed a Memorandum of Understanding, essentially defining a roadmap for achieving their common goal over the next three years. There will be joint initiatives to accelerate and bolster high-potential Italian companies in Terna's network, helping them build relationships and unlock business opportunities. Terna and INNOVIT will also join forces to promote the open innovation initiatives they will each be launching.

Terna can now leverage its strong presence in San Francisco to scout and back innovative Italian companies in California that wish to embark on energy transition projects, also taking the opportunity to evaluate potential experimental activities and investments.

"The agreements signed between Terna, an Italian excellence and a European leader in the green transition, the Consulate General, and our Italian Innovation and Culture Hub INNOVIT in San Francisco will enhance the support to innovative Italian start-ups in the extraordinary ecosystem of Silicon Valley, benefiting the energy transition and our economy," said the Italian Ambassador to the United States, Mariangela Zappia. "This partnership between a major industrial group and our outposts in the USA represents a perfect example of 'working as a system', which is at the core of the Farnesina's diplomacy for growth strategy," the Ambassador concluded.

"The collaboration between the Consulate General, Terna and INNOVIT" - said the Consul General in San Francisco, Sergio Strozzi - "represents the means with which the large Italian Group fully enters the network of innovation and "disruptive technologies" of Silicon Valley. The interlocutors with which Terna comes into contact are numerous and of very high profile: from American Big Tech companies to several start-ups in the energy and cleantech sector, from the network of Italian scientists and researchers in the Bay Area to universities generating research and innovation such as Stanford and Berkeley."

"Innovation is an essential tool because it allows us to find efficient solutions to energy transition

challenges. That is why Terna has set its sights on Silicon Valley, home to the most innovative companies in the world", said Giuseppina Di Foggia, Terna's CEO and General Manager. "Today, we strengthen our commitment to promoting start-ups and give them the best opportunities to develop their projects, especially the ones linked to the energy transition. The agreements signed today will encourage more profitable relationships with those who create Made In Italy technology and those who have the funding to foster these ideas and make them real and usable to benefit the evolving electricity industry," Di Foggia added.

"The agreement between INNOVIT and Terna marks an important step in driving the promotion of Italian innovation in the energy sector, a key industry for the sustainable future of our planet. Terna, at the forefront of the energy transition, is an ideal partner for our programs that support Italian start-ups to enter the US market and connect to the Silicon Valley ecosystem. This collaboration adds to other significant partnerships, already established by INNOVIT with large companies and government institutions, and confirms our ambition to be a strategic asset to promote Italy in the USA," said Alberto Acito, Director of the Italian Innovation Centre at INNOVIT.

Italy's electricity transmission grid operator has been forging partnerships in Silicon Valley since 2020, but it wasn't until the latter half of 2022 that its presence truly reinforced in this tech Mecca. Terna's Innovation Antenna in San Francisco is the gateway to Silicon Valley's innovative spirit and serves as a direct point of contact for up-and-comping companies in the U.S. Terna's San Francisco-based Innovation Team is on a mission to scout ground-breaking projects that tackle energy transition challenges and build dynamic relationships with start-ups, as well big companies, in American and Italy. Terna is already putting the knowledge gained in California to good use back home in Italy, testing out various robotics, drones and augmented reality projects.

INNOVIT is promoted by the Directorate General for the Country System of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in San Francisco. It is managed with the support of ICE - the Agency for the Promotion of Italian Enterprises Abroad - and the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco. Its mission is to stimulate innovative entrepreneurial ideas, catalyze cross-border innovative projects, and accelerate their international development, enabling Italian entities to establish a stable presence in Silicon Valley and across the United States. It is a strategic initiative of the Italian government to promote innovation within the national system in the United States. Since October 2022, the management of the Italian Innovation Center at INNOVIT has been entrusted to the Giacomo Brodolini Foundation, a think-and-do tank for innovation and local development, and Entopan Innovation, an incubator and accelerator within the Harmonic Innovation Group.