Italy has a strong tradition in scientific research, but also an historic difficulty in turning this research into actual products and companies. That's why Angelini Ventures, the Corporate Venture Capital arm of the multi-business industrial group Angelini Industries, joined Evotec SE and CDP Venture Capital Sgr in creating a specific initiative: Extend.

Extend - Angelini says - brings together leading academic institutions from Italy to accelerate their most promising assets towards commercialisation. The partnership brings together several academic institutions with strong track records in life science innovation from across Italy: Ospedale San Raffaele in Milan, the Universities of Milan, Florence, Modena and Reggio Emilia, Padua, Sapienza in Rome, the regional research district of Puglia through H-Bio and the Human Technopole.

Extend will be located within Milan’s MIND district, the new centre of scientific excellence in Italy focused on life sciences. It will adopt Evotec’s BRIDGE model to "translate" early-stage academic research for drug discovery and development into successful new companies. BRIDGE means Biomedical Research, Innovation & Development Generation Efficiency: it is an integrated fund and award framework, launched in 2016, that proved itself in a number of different collaborations.

"The pharmaceutical and drug discovery sectors represent one of the most striking examples of how research and deep tech technologies can shape people’s lives in a short time, as we have all experienced first-hand during the health emergency", said Enrico Resmini, CEO and General Manager of CDP Venture Capital. "Being involved in this project represents an important opportunity for Angelini Industries to contribute to the development of the Italian innovation ecosystem", added Sergio Marullo di Condojanni, CEO of Angelini Industries.

Extend combines the respective strengths of its founders: CDP Venture Capital Sgr as a leading Italian venture capital firm, with a total asset under management of more than 1.7 billion euros; Evotec as a drug discovery and development company with an international track record of academic collaborations; Angelini Ventures as an arm of Angelini Industries, that applies the know-how of the multi-business industrial group.

Extend's main goal is helping its academic partners in achieving a scientifically valid and commercially viable pre-clinical proof of concept. A team composed by professionals with diversified experiences can guarantee support to the academic partners on the entire business and technological development path. Once the scientific potential has been validated, Extend will bring a team of experts in, to develop the research teams’ entrepreneurial component,