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The Climate Tech Frontiers Summit in Forest Valley, which we previewed and for which we are media partners, confirms a trend that has been visible for some time: in Italy, dialogue between start-ups, corporations, investors and institutions is growing, but it remains concentrated in a small circle of players who are moving forward while the system as a whole is progressing more slowly. During the Summit, a shared ambition emerged clearly: to accelerate the adoption of climate solutions by transforming skills, processes and capital into a broader and more accessible movement.
The context leaves no room for hesitation. Electrification is putting pressure on networks; extreme weather events are stressing infrastructure on a daily basis; value chains are being redesigned; and regulation is making circularity not only mandatory, but economically relevant. Italy has the technical expertise and industrial strength to play a strategic role in a new, more sustainable and resilient economy. What is lacking is speed: the ability to implement quickly, learn from mistakes and scale up what works.
Forest Valley, building an ecosystem that accelerates adoption
Forest Valley was founded in 2021 to bridge the gap between potential and execution, accelerating implementation through two complementary levers: targeted investments and an operating ecosystem that connects technology developers, those who can adopt them, and those who have the capital to scale them. After 12 editions of its acceleration programme, over 100 startups supported and cross-sector partnerships, Forest Valley is establishing itself as a European platform capable of overcoming silos and creating continuity between prototypes, pilots and industrial implementation. Its network is constantly expanding, bringing together founders, corporate innovators, VCs and research institutes under a simple principle: Forest Valley always stands by founders, building connections with care and intention. The Summit marks the start of a wider cycle of in-person events as part of the Climate Tech Frontiers programme, with themed events in Italy and abroad.
A sector on the move, but not yet at the speed required
Discussions at the Summit highlighted one point: the pace of industrial adoption is still too slow compared to the speed of climate change. Utilities such as CAP and network operators such as Terna talked about their participation in industry alliances to tackle common challenges. Start-ups responded with mature solutions, predictive robotics, circular platforms for textile waste, and technologies to optimise biomethane, which only require better conditions to scale up. In fashion, players such as Confindustria Moda, Temera, Gruppo Lenzig and Fondazione Pistoletto showed how synergistic collaborations together with technologies such as the Digital Product Passport are already redesigning entire supply chains with measurable impacts. Bocconi 4 Innovation, Cariplo Factory, A2A, Generali, Sellalab and Maire offered complementary perspectives on how innovation must translate into tailor-made processes, tools and, above all, languages, in order to be adopted by organisations with less friction. It was also highlighted that many technologies for industrial decarbonisation are already mature, but often can only scale up through new forms of cross-sector collaboration and the development of skills that the market is not currently producing quickly enough.
Investments and skills, the decisive frontier
The issue of investment has revealed a structural divergence: on the one hand, there is a lack of capital willing to act continuously and in a truly risk-oriented manner; on the other hand, there is often a lack of teams with ambitions and competitive structures on a global scale. This misalignment is particularly significant in climate tech, where solutions are only adopted if they improve productivity and margins, and where the transition from prototype to industrial scale requires robust financial instruments and rapid processes. Without this infrastructure, Italy risks not supporting capital-intensive technologies at the most critical stage and losing one of the most dynamic investment segments of the next decade. Some early examples of venture capital and innovative companies are emerging in the Italian ecosystem, such as Mito Technology and Primo Climate, but it is necessary to continue investing in policies that attract both institutional investors and corporate players to ensure a complete and functioning innovation chain from start to finish.
The panel dedicated to skills with Radical HR, Greentalent and .Feel highlighted an equally concrete risk: replicating the mistakes of digital transformation by implementing tools without actually transforming organisations. The climate transition requires redesigned processes, new forms of leadership and figures capable of bringing sustainability into daily operations. The sustainability manager can no longer be a symbolic presence: they must coordinate diverse stakeholders, align targets and operations, and drive the cultural change necessary for adoption. The transition affects the entire labour market, not just STEM professions: it is not only occupations that will change in response to climate adaptation and ecological transition, but also the very way in which work is organised.
Towards the next Climate Tech Frontiers events
The picture is clear: the Italian climate tech ecosystem is advancing, but not yet at the required pace. To accelerate, more experimentation, more targeted capital, more structured collaboration, and a willingness to learn from those who are ahead of the curve are needed: mature corporations, international funds, venture builders, and industrial districts that have already codified replicable models. There is no single path to transformation: each organisation must build its own path, but today it can do so without starting from scratch and without incurring prohibitive costs. This is where the ecosystem becomes a competitive advantage: by sharing knowledge, reducing the distance between those who lead and those who are just starting out, and bringing back to Italy what already works elsewhere.
The upcoming sessions of Forest Valley’s Climate Tech Frontiers programme, which in this first edition was realised with the contribution of Gruppo CAP, Edison, Bocconi 4 Innovation, G-nous, Radical HR, Cleantech for Italy, Qubic, Climate Coffee, .Feel, Startupbusiness, Paprika, Italcer and Chiesi, including the next edition of the Summit, will continue this mission with themed events and exchanges designed to support a faster, more accessible and collaborative industrial transformation.
Those who wish to contribute or engage with the ecosystem as speakers, partners, investors or companies seeking solutions will find Forest Valley to be an open and operational platform, designed to support each player according to their needs, resources and ambitions.
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