CDP Venture Capital Launches SophIA, the National Technology Transfer Hub for Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity

Rome, September 23, 2026 – CDP Venture Capital announced the launch of SophIA, the new National Technology Transfer Hub entirely dedicated to artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, designed to support the creation and growth of deep-tech startups and promote the transformation of scientific results into entrepreneurial ventures, accelerating the technological competitiveness of the Italian economy.

The Hub, established in collaboration with Scientifica Venture Capital, has an initial budget of €27.5 million allocated by CDP Venture Capital’s Technology Transfer Fund and Artificial Intelligence Fund. It was created to foster the establishment and growth of more than 20 initiatives at the proof-of-concept, pre-seed, and seed stages over the next three years.

SophIA is the result of a synergy between public and private capital, combining the strategic vision of CDP Venture Capital with the entrepreneurial expertise of Scientifica Venture Capital. Its operating model is designed to bring cutting-edge technologies to market and create industrial value from research, including through the contribution and coordination of the technology transfer facilities of its scientific partners. It is a strategic tool for transforming the country’s scientific and cultural heritage into businesses, skilled employment, and lasting technological leadership. SophIA’s scientific promoters are the University of Naples Federico II, the Polytechnic University of Milan, the Italian Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI4I), the Bruno Kessler Foundation, and the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). Agreements with corporate partners are also planned and are currently being finalized.

SophIA’s technological scope covers the entire spectrum of artificial intelligence, with investments ranging from the development of foundation models, advanced architectures, training methods, multimodal models, and decentralized paradigms to the design of intelligent agents for automation, interaction, and collaboration between systems. Areas of application include industrial, scientific, and infrastructure fields such as process automation, materials design, and drug development. The scope also includes autonomous and collaborative robotics, digital twins, space robotics, edge computing, emerging hardware (neuromorphic, analog, and bio-inspired), and high-performance computing infrastructure, including cloud systems and AI accelerators.

The Hub’s business partner is Scientifica Venture Capital, an Italian operator specializing in technology transfer with a proven track record of 21 active startups in its portfolio in deep-tech sectors. Scientifica Venture Capital’s investment thesis is highly specialized and based on its ability to identify and leverage innovations with strong scientific content and potential for industrial scalability. The team, comprising professionals with advanced expertise in AI, complex systems engineering, machine learning, and business building, operates across the entire investment funnel: from technology sourcing and technical due diligence to execution at the PoC and seed stages and strategic post-investment monitoring. This integration of technical and entrepreneurial expertise enables Scientifica Venture Capital to effectively guide research projects toward sustainable and competitive business models.

According to an estimate by Grand View Research, the European artificial intelligence market was worth approximately €61.1 billion in 2024, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.2% between 2025 and 2030. In Italy, according to the Artificial Intelligence Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, the artificial intelligence market reached a value of €1.2 billion in 2024, representing growth of 58% compared with 2023. This expansion is driven by public policies focused on innovation, growing industrial adoption of AI solutions, and a rapidly developing academic and infrastructure base. On this latter front, Italy ranks among the leaders in global scientific output: it is ninth in the world in terms of the number of AI publications, with more than 40,000 papers published between 2018 and 2023, more than 200 university courses offered at 50 universities, and an annual pipeline of approximately 581 PhDs in related disciplines.

The establishment of SophIA thus came about in response to two converging trends: on the one hand, Italy’s consolidation as a scientific hub in the field of artificial intelligence; on the other, the accelerated growth the sector is experiencing at the European and national levels, with already visible impacts on investment, industrial competitiveness, and strategic policies.

“SophIA is a strategic component of our plan to strengthen technology transfer in Italy, promoting the development of national scientific expertise and accelerating the path from innovation to market in an increasingly crucial sector. Investing at the cutting edge of AI and cybersecurity means supporting the competitiveness of the national economy and anticipating the trends and innovations that will shape the future. Positioning ourselves among the first investors in the next cycle of AI technologies represents the real added value: it will ensure the country a leading position on the international stage and help create new, highly skilled jobs, offering Italy’s top talent concrete opportunities for professional fulfillment within national borders,” said Claudia Pingue, Senior Partner and Head of the Technology Transfer Fund, CDP Venture Capital SGR.

“I believe that Italy not only has the capacity to adopt new technologies but also to create them. With SophIA, we want to make AI a tangible industrial driver, transforming research into competitive startups and strengthening Italy’s role in global innovation. However, for this to happen, funding good ideas is not enough: technologies must be supported throughout the entire journey from the lab to the market, with entrepreneurial expertise, execution capabilities, and adequate infrastructure. It is in this transition that Scientifica Venture Capital aims to contribute to SophIA, creating the conditions for scientific excellence to translate into new companies capable of growing and competing,” added Riccardo D’Alessandri, Managing Partner of Scientifica.

Giorgio Ventre, Delegate of the Chancellor of the University of Naples Federico II for SophIA, said: “Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity are increasingly central technologies in the development of the innovation economy, and Italy must equip itself not only with the scientific expertise needed to master them but also with a production infrastructure capable of fully exploiting their potential. SophIA brings together venture capital and Italy’s leading research centers to strengthen the country’s ability to create highly specialized spin-offs serving businesses and public administration. The participation of the University of Naples Federico II as a scientific promoter confirms Southern Italy’s ability to play a leading role in innovation.”

“The Politecnico di Milano sees technology transfer as a strategic tool for transforming knowledge into concrete impact for the country. In a context in which artificial intelligence is profoundly redefining industrial and social models, it is crucial for universities, research, and capital to work together in an integrated way to drive innovation,” commented Marco Bocciolone, Rector’s Delegate for Technology Transfer at Politecnico di Milano. “Initiatives such as the SophIA Hub contribute to this goal, fostering the emergence of new deep-tech companies and the development of national and European technological competitiveness.”

“Technology transfer is one of the key steps in transforming scientific excellence into industrial innovation and new entrepreneurship. Initiatives such as SophIA help strengthen this ecosystem by creating a structured bridge between advanced research, technological development, and the emergence of deep-tech companies. The participation of the Italian Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI4I) in this initiative is part of a broader vision: connecting scientific expertise, computing infrastructure, and engineering capabilities to foster the development of advanced applications and new entrepreneurial ventures. Strengthening dialogue among universities, research centers, investors, and industry is now one of the key factors in consolidating Italy’s role in the new technological cycles of artificial intelligence,” said Fabio Pammolli, President of the Italian Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI4I).

“For over 30 years, Fondazione Bruno Kessler has been a benchmark in artificial intelligence research in Italy and internationally,” added Ferruccio Resta, President of Fondazione Bruno Kessler. “Today, however, the crucial step is to transform this excellence into impact. It means enabling researchers to translate scientific results into market-ready technologies and new business ventures. For this reason, in its role as Scientific Partner of the AI Technology Transfer Hub, FBK will further strengthen its commitment to technology transfer through structured efforts to scout and select deep-tech projects in the fields of AI and cybersecurity.”

“SophIA represents a fundamental building block for strengthening the Italian technology transfer ecosystem in areas that will be crucial to competitiveness in the coming decades. Artificial intelligence is not just an enabling technology: it is the tool that will redefine the way we design materials, develop drugs, build robots, and protect digital and non-digital infrastructure. For IIT, which has adopted an ‘AI first’ approach in its strategic plan, initiatives of this kind are essential: they allow us to accelerate the path from frontier research to deep-tech startups, generating industrial value, skilled employment, and new opportunities for our young researchers in the national and European context,” concluded Giorgio Metta, Scientific Director of the Italian Institute of Technology.

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CDP Venture Capital SGR

CDP Venture Capital is an asset management company 70% owned by CDP Equity and 30% by Invitalia. It was established with the goal of building the Italy of tomorrow by placing innovation at the heart of the country’s economic development and investing in a new generation of entrepreneurs in order to reclaim the leading role in creative, scientific, and technological fields that has always distinguished the country. CDP Venture Capital manages 15 investment funds, with more than €4.9 billion in assets supporting innovative companies at all stages of their life cycle through both direct and indirect investments (funds of funds). Through the Technology Transfer Fund, it invests across the entire technology transfer value chain by establishing National Hubs throughout the country that bring together leading universities and centers of research excellence to identify and fund the best deep-tech technologies and guide them toward the market. At the same time, the fund invests in sector-specific VC funds to accelerate the growth of the best companies on the market. This systems-based approach leverages the most promising opportunities in Italian research to foster new generations of entrepreneurs and investors. As has already been the case for robotics with RoboIT, environmental sustainability with Tech4Planet, the development of new therapeutic approaches in the biopharmaceutical field with Extend, aerospace with Galaxia, and agrifood tech with Farming Future, the Hubs are the result of collaboration between public and private stakeholders to transform research outcomes into innovation. Ten specialized VC funds are currently associated with the Hubs. For more information: https://www.cdpventurecapital.it

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Scientifica

Scientifica is an investment holding company with offices in Rome, L’Aquila, and London, specializing in technology transfer and the development of deep tech. It operates as an operational venture capital firm, supporting founders through a structured combination of capital, strategic expertise, advanced technological infrastructure, and ongoing operational support. It has a proprietary hub with more than 4,000 m² of state-of-the-art laboratories, where an in-house Research & Development team supports startups during the most complex stages of technology transfer, from functional prototyping to the industrial scalability of solutions. Alongside the R&D team is a highly specialized group of professionals with complementary backgrounds in artificial intelligence, product development, and business design. This team supports startups throughout their growth cycle: from technology validation to competitive positioning, from defining the go-to-market strategy to building the brand. To date, Scientifica Venture Capital has invested in 21 deep-tech startups, establishing a new paradigm in the venture capital landscape.

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