Presented at Scaleup Summit Turin 2026, OGR Bridging Growth is the new programme by OGR Torino, Fondazione CRT’s innovation hub, developed in partnership with Mind the Bridge to accelerate the international growth of startups.
The six-month programme will support 15 companies through a pathway focused on business development and access to global markets, concluding with a CEO Retreat in Silicon Valley.
The initiative further confirms the growth of OGR Tech, which since 2019 has supported more than 450 startups through 16 innovation programmes, catalysing over €480 million overall.
OGR Bridging Growth is launched at OGR Torino, Fondazione CRT’s innovation hub: a new programme dedicated to international scaling, promoted by OGR Torino in collaboration with the global open innovation platform Mind the Bridge. In a context where startup growth increasingly depends on the ability to succeed in global markets, the initiative strengthens Turin’s role as an innovation platform and enhances the competitiveness of the territory.
The programme, focused on supporting the international growth of high-potential startups, was presented today at OGR Torino during the Scaleup Summit Turin 2026.
Addressed to the most promising companies selected from the more than 450 startups involved in OGR Tech programmes since 2019, OGR Bridging Growth will identify 15 companies each year with a strong international vocation, offering a six-month pathway focused on business development and access to global markets, culminating in a CEO Retreat in Silicon Valley. The first selected companies will be announced in the coming days.
Over the years, the OGR Tech ecosystem has progressively expanded and consolidated, and the new programme represents a further milestone confirming the growth of the hub. The 16 programmes active over the past twelve months have supported more than 170 startups. Since 2019, participating startups have collectively catalysed €480 million in investment.
“Today, at OGR Tech – an international platform for innovation, technology and entrepreneurship – a new global programme is added: OGR Bridging Growth,” stated Davide Canavesio, President of OGR Torino. “With OGR Bridging Growth we address one of the most delicate and decisive phases for startups: the transition from acceleration to scaling. Since 2019, the OGR Tech hub has developed 16 programmes dedicated to startups, supported on average more than 130 companies per year and built a network of over 80 corporate and financial partners, contributing not only to the growth of individual companies but also to the strength of the entire ecosystem. Together with Mind the Bridge, we are strengthening this commitment and opening a new chapter in the OGR project, enabling us to enhance achieved results and support the most promising companies beyond national borders, further leveraging international networks and expertise. OGR Bridging Growth represents the first concrete step in the evolution of OGR into a true launchpad for global markets.”
“The innovation ecosystem that Fondazione CRT is developing through OGR Torino – supporting people, skills and businesses – is now entering a new, more mature phase, increasingly connected to major international networks,” said Anna Maria Poggi, President of Fondazione CRT. “The partnership with Mind the Bridge represents a further step in this direction and strengthens the international dimension of the OGR project. In a scenario where the value of territories is increasingly measured by their ability to attract talent, capital and global opportunities, investing in the best OGR Tech companies means investing in Turin’s future and consolidating its role as an international innovation hub.”
“In recent years Turin has become a platform for attracting and accelerating innovative startups,” commented Alberto Onetti, Chairman of Mind the Bridge. “OGR Bridging Growth aims to support startups in the most critical phase of their journey: post-acceleration growth and international expansion. Today, the bottleneck is not only capital, but the ability to access the right ecosystems and markets. In the business world, small is no longer beautiful. It is not enough to have startups; we need innovative companies capable of growing, generating revenue and creating employment.”
OGR Torino will lead the initiative as a platform connecting startups, corporates and institutions, facilitating access to industrial and market opportunities. Mind the Bridge will provide its scaling framework, supporting founders and top management in key areas such as business development, go-to-market strategy, entry into new markets, fundraising, strategic positioning and communication.
The programme was presented at OGR during the Scaleup Summit Turin 2026, which brought the international Mind the Bridge format back to Italy after eight years, gathering startups, corporates and investors to discuss open innovation and scaling strategies.
The opening session featured Patrizia Polliotto, Secretary General of Fondazione CRT, Davide Canavesio, President of OGR Torino, Alberto Onetti, Chairman of Mind the Bridge, and Marco Marinucci, CEO of Mind the Bridge. The Summit also explored the evolution of the open innovation manager role, with the presentation of the report Inside the Open Innovation Role. Profiles, Skills, and Challenges of Corporate Innovation Managers.
The analysis, conducted by Mind the Bridge over the past year on hundreds of innovation professionals from major international corporates, outlines the evolution of the Open Innovation Manager, a role increasingly central in connecting companies and startups.
The findings show that all respondents hold at least a university degree, while 40% also completed an MBA. The majority (56%) have an academic background in business and management disciplines, including 13% combining business and engineering and 1% combining business and scientific studies. Just under one third (28%) hold degrees in engineering, while only 2% have academic backgrounds in law or humanities, confirming the hybrid nature of a role that requires both strategic and technological expertise.
The report also highlights that approximately nine years of professional experience are typically required to reach operational roles in open innovation, while senior leadership positions require an additional seven to eight years on average. Direct experience with startup ecosystems emerges as a distinguishing factor: 59% of professionals have worked directly with startups, 64% come from corporate innovation teams and 48% have gained experience in venture capital, accelerators or incubators.
Despite the growing adoption of open innovation strategies within companies, several internal challenges remain, including slow decision-making processes, limited top management support and a corporate culture not yet fully aligned with innovation.
A gender gap also persists within open innovation roles. Overall, men represent around two thirds of the professionals surveyed, while women are more frequently present in operational or programme management roles. The gap widens at more senior levels, where leadership positions remain predominantly male, highlighting an ongoing challenge for the evolution of innovation functions within large companies.
The findings were discussed with key figures from the Italian innovation ecosystem, including corporate representatives Claudia Berti, CIO of Pelliconi and former Head of Global Innovation & IPR at Barilla Group, Paolo Cerioli, Chief Innovation and Information Technology Officer at Fincantieri, Giacomo Silvestri, Executive Chairman of Eniverse Ventures and Head of Innovation Ecosystems at Eni Group, and, on the scaleup side, Luca Rossettini, CEO and Founder of D-Orbit. Recent trends in corporate venture capital were explored with international guests Marc Thom, Corporate Vice President CVC and Head of Henkel Ventures, and Jan Lozek, Founder and Managing Partner of Future Energy Ventures.
The Summit also featured Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author of the bestseller The Lean Startup, who shared reflections on the relationship between innovation, sustainable growth and long-term vision, anticipating themes from his upcoming book Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great.
The event concluded with presentations by five scaleups grown within the OGR ecosystem, sharing concrete experiences of growth and development and demonstrating the impact of an internationalisation-oriented model.
