A key feature of the center is its focus on small industrial prototyping machines rather than large lab equipment. “We realized what was missing was support for scaling up technology: moving from laboratory to industrial level. MagnoLab exists to accelerate mature ideas and innovations, bringing them more quickly to tangible applications in textiles and art,” Vesipa explains.
The choice of Biella was strategic: the wool district offers historical expertise, industrial spaces, and a network of companies enabling the development of an innovation ecosystem. “Sustainability is the main focus,” Vesipa adds, “which is why we repurposed an existing industrial building instead of building from scratch.”

New ecosystems, old roots: when innovation comes home

The technological development led by the city of Eindhoven represents the success of a model that has been slowly developing over the past 20 years but is destined to grow in the future: that of technology incubators—places and programs where companies can develop in a virtuous way through support and funding projects that foster growth. According to The Brainy Insights, a leading market research center, the technology incubator market generated $236.49 million in revenue in 2023, with growth projected to reach $517.22 million by 2033. Globally, there are over 7,000 active incubators, and their expansion is also fueled by the digitalization of services, which allows support to be delivered virtually and reaches areas previously excluded from major innovation circuits.

Indeed, according to the 2024 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER), which analyzes the health of the startup system, new ecosystems of emerging companies are developing outside the classic territories: while historically dominant regions like Silicon Valley, New York, and London maintain top positions, the GSER 2024 suggests an expansion of opportunities and less concentration of resources exclusively in these hubs. A notable example comes from Europe: the continent is the most represented region in the Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems ranking, with a 42% share, followed by North America at 27%. Among these, the city of Turin stands out, having increased by 122% in just the past year, entering the special Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems ranking.

The rise of the Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems

Emerging ecosystems are increasingly gaining space in the global innovation landscape. The aggregated value of the Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems surpassed $1.6 trillion, slightly up from 2022. Europe leads in representation with 42% of included ecosystems, followed by North America at 27%. Cities like Madrid, Milan, Greater Lausanne, Jakarta, and Rhein-Ruhr have climbed significantly in the rankings thanks to unicorns and major exits.

Technology and sustainability are the driving sectors: Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, emerges as a leading force, attracting unprecedented investments and a growing number of deals, while the biotech sector continues to be a capital catalyst in early stages. Alongside these, fintech maintains its prominence, generating many unicorn companies, and climate tech is asserting itself strongly, reflecting a growing commitment to sustainable and innovative solutions attentive to local territories.

In this new context, new types of companies not necessarily tied to metropolitan centers are finding their place. Companies that Professor Giulio Buciuni, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Trinity College Dublin, calls “plug-in” companies in his latest book Innovatori Outsider: non-central entities that make ultra-specialized innovation their strength. Another relevant feature, as he explains, “besides the ‘peripheral’ geography, is that the plug-in company, being a tech startup, works in concert with and supports traditional supply chains.” They stimulate and inject new vitality: “they are like a decentralized R&D department of large corporations.” Buciuni cites Megaride, a Neapolitan startup born from a project at Federico II University: this small company “develops an algorithm to test racing tire performance in competitions and then sells the software to Ducati and Ferrari.” While Ferrari could develop such software, building vertical teams for every aspect of automotive innovation would be complex. Thus, Megaride can be seen as “an external entity, an R&D extension of a traditional large company,” Buciuni continues.

“Traditional districts—like Biella’s textile district—are important in this geographic network of plug-in companies but not as vital,” he adds. “Instead, two characteristics are fundamental: financial resources and high-quality human resources.” Today, these aspects are more concentrated in large centers, but innovation also derives from investments by large companies and universities.

MagnoLab today represents a reference point for local textile companies, but with an outward-looking approach. In its first months, the center attracted startups not only from Italy but also from Europe, the United States, and Norway, as Marco Vesipa explains. The initiative focuses not only on technological innovation but also on creating local impact, promoting training courses, collaborations with local accommodations, and opportunities for new enterprises. “Our dream is that every year at least one new company decides to settle in Biella thanks to MagnoLab’s work,” he concludes.
MagnoLab aims to bridge Biella’s manufacturing tradition with global innovation. From the territory, the center draws expertise, artisanal know-how, and passion for textiles. To the world, it wants to offer sustainable and innovative solutions capable of reducing the supply chain’s environmental impact. This philosophy is reflected in initiatives like Texploration, an international open innovation project promoted and launched by MagnoLab and Sellalab—the Sella Group’s impact innovation platform—as an Ecosystem Partner. Texploration involved around 200 startups, one-third from abroad. “Our goal is to open up to the world and create networks,” Vesipa adds.

The MagnoLab model clearly demonstrates how creating these integrated innovation ecosystems can produce positive impacts on territories and local communities, as Buciuni explained. In this initiative, Gruppo Sella, through the Sellalab platform and dpixel, plays a fundamental role in connecting established companies with innovative startups, fostering a collaborative and dynamic approach. For this reason, Texploration aims to identify useful and effective solutions to improve, for example, energy management, digitalization of production processes, consumption reduction, use of recyclable and biodegradable materials, and even the use of Artificial Intelligence to optimize the supply chain. The program allowed engagement with all major stages of the textile supply chain through sequential phases: scouting, selection, co-creation, and final presentation.

Texploration and MagnoLab have highlighted the prominent role companies should play in a territory: to recover, revitalize, and bring positive transformation to places. The goal should be to create a dynamic synergy in which businesses actively collaborate with local communities to promote sustainable development, social inclusion, and economic growth.

Innovation Districts: cities as laboratories of the future

When discussing industries and territories, the intrinsic meanings should evolve to fully embrace the concept of the Innovation District, coined by Katz & Wagner—respectively a lawyer and an urbanist—who in 2014 summarized in two words the broader concept of geographically concentrated urban areas where universities, research centers, startups, established companies, and public institutions converge to form a dynamic and collaborative ecosystem.

These are not isolated tech parks but vital sections of cities, often well-connected and equipped with a rich array of services and public spaces. The essence of an Innovation District usually revolves around an institutional anchor, such as a prestigious university or a research hospital, around which other entities cluster. In these districts, physical proximity facilitates the exchange of ideas, the emergence of unexpected partnerships, and the development of new solutions to complex problems.

Giulio Buciuni explains that to structure such important innovation hubs, one cannot rely solely on local resources; political attention is necessary: “I always use the example of Galway, a small town of 80,000 that transformed into an innovation hub.” When American biomedical multinationals settled there, the government facilitated their arrival with targeted public policies, incentives, and tax breaks. Meanwhile, the local university adapted its courses to train new local engineers. This created an ecosystem where research, enterprise, and education work together. “This is the kind of vision needed in Italy to enhance peripheral territories,” he adds, allowing innovation districts to emerge not only in large centers but also in the suburbs.

According to the Global Institute of Innovation District, which connects innovation districts worldwide, around 45 are directly linked to the network, though the institute has cataloged about 150. In Italy, there is the MIND district: an urban space regenerated from Expo 2015, connected to the city by metro and train. A single place linking diverse industrial realities with the common goal of fostering innovation through shared expertise—in two words, Open Innovation.

Beyond corporate borders: open innovation as a universal language

Open innovation is becoming increasingly crucial in global corporate strategies. Henry Chesbrough, professor at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, coined the term in his 2003 book. In a world of distributed knowledge, his theory argued, it is more efficient for companies to collaborate with external partners—startups, academic institutions, or consumer associations—to accelerate innovation. As mentioned earlier, the widespread rise of tech startups is also shaping open innovation themes.

In this context, MagnoLab is moving to strengthen its collaboration network. “We’ve been in Biella for less than two years,” says Marco Vesipa, “and until mid-2023, we were focused on renovations. Building a network was still in its embryonic stage: since September 2023, we’ve started developing projects, opening contacts with Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano, other universities, and CNR. We also collaborate with Pointex, a local innovation center. It’s not a simple or immediate process, but the first results are already satisfying.”
 

Virtuous examples of open innovation are emerging not only in the U.S., where Silicon Valley and Boston remain historic benchmarks in biotech with over $8 billion annually in investment, but also in Asia. In South Korea, companies like Samsung and Hyundai are leading collaborative models with innovative startups in biotech, AI, and green tech, supported by targeted government programs such as the Deep Tech Value-up.

In Italy, open innovation adoption is consolidating but shows strong size-related differences. Among large enterprises, the approach is pervasive—88% have integrated collaborative models, moving from isolated solutions to integrated inbound and outbound innovation strategies. Among SMEs, adoption is fragmented: only 31% use structured practices, with most relying on inbound innovation, which is more accessible and less costly in governance. Corporate-startup relationships are intensifying: 62% of large companies now collaborate regularly with emerging companies, doubling the 2018 figure, while SMEs remain much lower. The main driver remains collaboration with universities and research centers (72%), followed by startup scouting (59%) and practices like call4ideas, hackathons, and incubation programs.

Evolution of startup–corporate collaborations

Over the past 7 years, collaborations between large Italian companies and startups have steadily grown, from 33% in 2018 to 62% in 2024. 
At the same time, the proportion of companies planning future collaborations has decreased (from 27% to 14%), signaling that many have moved from exploratory to operational phases. Today, 48% of large companies have collaborated with startups for over 3 years, while only 7% have discontinued such collaborations. However, 17% of companies remain inactive or undecided, representing growth potential for the innovation ecosystem.

Organizationally, only a minority of companies have roles exclusively dedicated to open innovation (20%), while most activities are managed within broader innovation or ICT functions. Budget-wise, although 59% of companies have specific resources, amounts often remain modest, mostly under €500,000. Alongside these established models, interest in Corporate Venture Building is growing: 12% of companies have already initiated such efforts, and more are considering integrating structures for internal enterprise creation. This reflects a still heterogeneous but increasingly dynamic ecosystem, oriented toward transcending traditional boundaries between business and external innovation.

G-local: a vision connecting local territories and the world

Looking ahead, projects like MagnoLab—rooted in local expertise but projected onto global knowledge—will be crucial in tackling urgent global challenges: advancing artificial intelligence, blockchain, and industrial process renewal. The “G-local” vision, combining the strength of local networks with the attraction of international talent, represents a model increasingly supported by data. According to the OECD, industrial policies in member countries account for an average of 1.4% of GDP and are increasingly focused on green, digital, and open innovation-based infrastructures. A recent OECD study, Open Innovation in a Global Perspective, also shows that international innovation networks—supported by R&D, patents, and licensing data—are rising sharply, reflecting a shift from closed approaches to collaborative and interconnected dynamics.

In this context, ecosystems like MagnoLab, deeply rooted locally but open to a global dimension, enjoy fertile ground to become strategic nodes in the sustainable industrial ecosystem of the future.

“The future of MagnoLab,” says Vesipa, “is to become a node in this network: we want to attract international expertise, turning our local roots into a springboard for global innovation. The goal is for every project born here to have a tangible and measurable impact, both locally and on the international market.”