In recent years, companies have been undergoing significant changes both internally and in their external relations, thanks to the adoption of open innovation practices. This new way of conceiving innovation requires a reorganization of business processes and a redefinition of the professional profiles sought, with increasing focus on soft skills, cross-functional competences and entrepreneurial capability, both individually and within teams.
Experimenting integration
The initiative titled Collective Projects 2025-2026 aims to bring third-sector entities/organizations, start-ups and SMEs closer to an open innovation project which, thanks to the support of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, promotes cross-fertilization among their different systems of reference.
The entities implementing this experimental program are ESCP, an international business school known for attracting talented young people, both national and international, and Réseau Entreprendre Piemonte (REP), a business accelerator with a strong social mission, specialized in mentoring, support and acceleration programs for start-ups and newly established businesses.
The model used to create the meeting point between companies/organizations and students is ESCP’s Collective Projects, which involves, on one side, a team of second-year students from the Bachelor in Management (BSc) program of the Business School and, on the other, a company/entity/organization that needs resources and competences to address a strategic or organizational development challenge.
Who is the initiative for
The open innovation project will involve organizations working directly with ESCP Collective Project student teams, specifically:
- entities eligible, from a legal standpoint, for Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo funding, operating in the fields of culture, social affairs, sport and the environment;
- start-ups within the (mainly Piedmont-based) innovation ecosystem;
- established companies with a commitment to innovation and social innovation.
All of these categories must share a key element: a pre-existing willingness to launch open innovation initiatives with the goal of optimizing and improving specific areas of their organization by leveraging external skills and resources from other contexts.
Applications can be submitted by September 29, 2025 via the initiative's webpage, where the full regulations are also available.
