Origin – The Startup Hub, the Future Hub dedicated to the startup ecosystem within Rome Future Week 2026, has concluded. Hosted at Zest Hub, the event was organised in collaboration with NEEDS Startup Association, Zest, Sistema Invitalia Startup and Scai Comunicazione.

On 22 and 23 September, more than 800 founders, startup representatives, investors, corporate representatives, universities, institutions and professionals took part in two days packed with panels, workshops, pitches and networking sessions, sharing different experiences and perspectives on how innovation, capital, expertise and businesses can contribute to the ecosystem’s growth.

Among the many sessions, three panels featuring Zest representatives addressed key questions: how to build more effective ecosystems, how to turn research and talent into businesses, and how to move Open Innovation from experimentation to adoption.

The panel “Comparing Ecosystems: Rome vs Turin” brought together two regions with different characteristics and strengths, starting from a clear premise: the aim was not to establish which ecosystem was more advanced, but to understand how local business structures, priorities and regional characteristics shape innovation models.

The discussion featured Davide Canavesio, CEO of OGR Torino; Marco Gay, President of Unione Industriali Torino; Marco Giovannini, Chairman of Zest; Vittoria Carli, Vice President of Unindustria; and Luciano De Propris, Head of Open Innovation at ELIS. It was moderated by Laura Pellegri, Head of Communication and Institutional Relations at Zest.

One shared insight emerged from the discussion: an ecosystem’s growth depends not only on the number of startups or its ability to attract capital, but also on its capacity to turn connections between startups, businesses, SMEs and institutions into tangible projects.

Differences between regions can therefore become a source of value when understood as expressions of different strengths and needs, rather than different levels of maturity. In this context, Open Innovation can serve as a tool to bring these worlds closer together and help turn initial encounters into collaboration.

How ready are universities to become engines of startup creation? This was the central question of the panel “Are Universities Ready to Become Engines of Startup Creation?”, moderated by Michela Aliazzo, Delivery & Execution Lead at Zest, with Andrea Dal Piaz, Director of Dock; Sabrina Lucibello, Director of the Sapienza Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub – SIEH; and Silvia Baiocco, Researcher in Management at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Director of Start Cup Lazio.

The discussion highlighted that the transition from research to business cannot be achieved simply by increasing the number of startup programmes. The first step is to create an environment conducive to entrepreneurship, one that allows talent to emerge and helps students and researchers see entrepreneurship as a possible way to develop and apply their skills.

Yet even when talent emerges, the journey is far from complete. Training, tools, resources, guidance and market access are also needed.

This is where the idea of a pipeline comes in: universities can generate knowledge and talent, but they cannot cover every stage of bringing a technology or an idea to market on their own. Other players are needed to support validation, develop complementary skills and teams, facilitate relationships with businesses and provide funding for growth.

Continuity between these stages plays a significant role in the ability to turn research and talent into innovation and businesses.

The third discussion, “Open Innovation: How Large Companies Generate Innovation”, explored the relationship between corporations, startups and investors.

The panel featured Mattia Voltaggio, Head of Eni Joule; Paolo Licata, CEO of Clover Venture; Andrea Chiappetta, Head of Innovation Technology at ITA Airways; and Radiosa Romani, Innovation Manager & Head of Ecosystem Development IT at Zest. It was moderated by Antonella Coppotelli, Head of Marketing & PR at Money.it.

One of the insights that emerged concerned the very approach to Open Innovation: start with the problem, not the startup.

Before scouting begins, a company needs to define the specific need it wants to address, who is responsible for it internally and what outcome it wants to achieve. Only then can the search for an external solution become truly effective.

Finding the solution, however, is not enough. Corporations, startups, SMEs, researchers and industrial partners often have different languages, timelines and ways of working. Open Innovation therefore also requires the orchestration of collaboration, guiding the process from matching through to experimentation.

From this perspective, a proof of concept (PoC) is not the final outcome: it serves to generate evidence and inform a decision. Establishing that a solution works and can be adopted and scaled—or that it is not the right way forward—still means turning an experiment into an informed choice.

This is where Zest’s role as an Open Innovation enabler comes in: creating the conditions for innovation to be tested, adopted and scaled by connecting businesses’ concrete needs with solutions developed within the ecosystem.

The second day of Origin – The Startup Hub opened with a message for those building new businesses every day: “It’s a long journey. Find someone to travel with you—that’s why you’re here today.”

The message was shared by Gabriele Ronchini, CEO of Zest Investments, during the Opening Session on 23 September, alongside Vittorio Verardi, President of NEEDS Startup Association; Silvia Favulli, Programme Manager of Rome Future Week; and Alberto Luna, Founder of The Growth Lab.

For a startup, finding an investor, a new team member or a corporation interested in its solution also means choosing who will support the business through the different stages of its growth. It is a long journey, requiring a shared vision, trust and the ability to build relationships that extend beyond a single project or an immediate result.

This perspective also shapes how Zest sees its role within the ecosystem: supporting startups and businesses over time, connecting people, expertise, capital and opportunities to turn potential into growth.

Alongside the panels, Origin brought workshops, startup pitches, networking sessions and the Ecosystem Meetup by Zest to Zest Hub. The meetup attracted more than 150 participants and was made possible with the support of partners Tot, TaxCoach, RFW, Eleventh Step and TAG, creating opportunities for discussion between people and organisations working in innovation every day.

The two days highlighted three distinct but closely connected aspects: the need to build regional ecosystems capable of collaborating, the importance of a pipeline that turns research and talent into businesses, and the need for Open Innovation focused on concrete problems, experimentation and adoption.

This ability to connect different worlds also gives Zest a role to play: supporting startups and businesses on their innovation journeys, from idea to growth and from experimentation to market.

Origin concludes after two days of discussion and participation, while the conversations, collaborations and opportunities sparked within the ecosystem remain open.