Description of organisation

X23 is a business support organisation based in Milan and Bergamo bringing over 25 years’ private sector expertise in supporting new entrepreneurs, established businesses and corporates. X23 is committed to innovation, social inclusion, gender equality and works in line with the UN SDA Goals. We have a specific focus on entrepreneurship: we are committed to boost the growth potential of innovative startups (social enterprises included) and SMEs to compete at EU and global level. Enterprise creation and business growth is a daily challenge, commitment, talent and grasp of the situation are key elements to emerge in a very competitive market, and we have the experience to support businesses at every stage. Since the beginning X23 focused our key expertise in 3 main areas:
1.research and innovation: X23 provides support to innovation, inspired and driven by “collaborative innovation” fostering dialog, knowledge and innovation transfer with the aim to increase startups, innovative SMEs and enterprises competitiveness in cross-cutting market fields, from ICT to advanced manufacturing, from health to agritech, from space to creative industries and manufacturing.
2.grow: X23 is 100% growth focused, that is why we support startups by our EXOO23| RadicalTM growth programme, where growth happens every day: a lab hosting a pool of industry experts, mentors, coaches, creative minds, social innovators, tech-geeks, talented startups committed to radical innovation.
3.scale-up: a powerful network and the capacity to connect companies and corporates to startups is the key for an exponential growth. X23 supports startups and innovative SMEs in the internationalisation process, cross-borders investments.
X23 is an active member of the Startup Europe Alliance, it played the role of International Network Manager at Startup Europe Awards (SEUA), the Eurovision for Startups in 2016, an initiative by DG Connect and supported by the EU Committee of the Regions. X23 is the Regional Manager for South Europe Startup Award (SESA; 2700 nominations received so far in 2019 from all the countries involved, i.e. Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta and Cyprus) and Northern Africa Startup Award (NASA, covering Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Libia, Senegal and Nigeria) at the Global Startup Awards, the global competition recognising the value of the global startup ecosystems covering 7 macro-regions and 70+ countries globally. SESA and NASA are supported by the Italian Ministry of Technological Innovation and Digitalisation, the Italian Ministry of Affairs and Cooperation and the Italian Trade Agency. X23 runs its own incubator/accelerator - EXOO23|RadicalTM - with a set of targeted “growth programmes” for startups and high-growth SMEs in different verticals (fashion and creative industries included). X23 is very active in the digital skills sector, playing the role of official Pledger and Member at the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition (DG Connect Initiative). As a result, X23 is pretty active in the field of training, with specific reference to digital skills improvements with a special focus on the youth, women, vulnerable targets (such as migrants, refugees, asylum seeker; people with disabilities). Its well-established network is formed by SMEs, startups, “nascent” entrepreneurs, consolidated enterprises, incubated enterprises from different market sectors.

Inclusion topics

This organisation is willing to involve volunteers who face situations which make their participation in activities more difficult, from the following categories for different types of project:

• Cultural differences
• Disability
• Refugees