Harmonic Innovation Group announces that the Shareholders’ Meeting has approved the 2026-2030 business plan and the extraordinary financing operation to service its execution.
The closing of the financing round has been signed, with HIG raising a total of €592 million in equity and convertible shareholder financing to support its acquisition and investment plan aimed at strengthening HIG’s tangible and intangible assets, in line with its mission.
Harmonic Innovation Group Società Benefit is a project promoted by Entopan, an international think tank on development and innovation economics, which consolidates the strategic perspective of establishing itself as a global game changer by promoting an Italian and Mediterranean approach to building the future and sustainable development, also enhancing the cultural and strategic centrality of Southern Italy, the EUMENA area and the Global South.
The objective is to accelerate the development of the Harmonic Innovation Ecosystem, creating the leading global collaborative platform, both physical and digital, committed to generating innovation and research, new technologies and best practices, based on an ethical and humanistic vision, progressively expanding the widespread community of users, research centres, investment funds, industrial players, institutions and companies that share its principles and participate in it to support their industrial and strategic growth.
Harmonic Innovation Ecosystem is configured as an ecosystem integrator and platform of platforms, process and product driven with a focus on AI, with the aim of guiding the birth of a new cluster within the global innovation market, a market that is now worth around €10 trillion, says the company in a statement, dedicated to truly human-centred and ethics-based innovation. This perspective is made possible and is already in place as a result of the distinctive positioning already consolidated thanks to the vision of Harmonic Innovation, defined and developed by founding president Francesco Cicione, and the global ecosystem that has grown up around it.
The transaction sees Spanish firm Rubicon International, which specialises in structured and alternative finance, as lead investor. Rubicon operates on behalf of and in collaboration with some of the leading family offices and financial institutions in Europe, Asia and the Emirates, with a portfolio of liquid assets worth approximately €6.8 billion in the key areas of energy, healthcare, innovation and AI, and real estate. Rubicon is supported by IMCI+International through a newly established vehicle. The commitment of the main shareholders already present in HIG’s capital, such as Santo Versace and his wife Francesca De Stefano, Antonio and Angelo Ferraro through 2EFFE Holding, as well as Entopan and Darwin, is also confirmed.
The structure provides for a capital increase of €30 million, €15 million of which will be subscribed by the Spanish/Swiss Consortium and the remainder by the aforementioned shareholders. The remaining €562.5 million in financing will be disbursed in tranches starting in June 2026 by Rubicon Finance Network and IMCI+ International as convertible shareholder financing at an initial valuation of more than €1 billion.
Pasqualino Scaramuzzino, president of Harmonic Innovation Group, comments in a statement: “Today is not the finish line, but a milestone on the path, both past and future, towards creating the conditions for a market for a specific type of innovation. It is the result of 25 years of work that Entopan, the project promoter, has carried out with determination, strengthened by the vision of its founder Francesco Cicione and the unconditional support it has found along the way from other entrepreneurs, innovators, financial institutions and universities, to name but a few. We want to build an industrial policy from the ground up with global ambitions, but rooted in Italy, in its South and in the Mediterranean, and build a better future. We want to create an alternative to the quantitative vision of innovation that currently dominates globally, preserving the centrality of the human being, as Pope Leo XIV repeatedly urges us to do. We are undoubtedly benefiting in many sectors from the great strides in technological innovation, and this is extraordinary, but the effects of innovation that is not designed with a positive impact on human beings in mind before profit are also increasingly evident. This is what we are responding to by proposing an alternative that comes at the perfect time to market, at a moment when the number of people who feel the same need to innovate ethically, not to harness progress but, on the contrary, to guarantee it in the long term, is growing exponentially. We are working towards this goal.
Modesto N. Peña y Gorrin, founder and CEO of IMCI+ International, says: “Our investment and the operation as a whole will accelerate the execution of the plan and the development of the Harmonic Innovation Ecosystem. Thanks to this extraordinary physical and digital platform, with a focus on AI, we want to produce direct and systemic impacts on key sectors such as energy, biotechnology, the circular economy and industrial digitalisation. When I first met founder Francesco Cicione in early 2024, I recognised him as a visionary leader and saw enormous potential in his project and team. Harmonious innovation can become a transformative asset in which to inscribe and experiment with new models of development. All of these factors are fully consistent with the mandate given to IMCI+ International by its network of investors, which includes 50 of the world’s leading family offices and investment banks. I am very pleased to be able to contribute to the launch of such an unprecedented, courageous and necessary project.
Ignacio Garcia, founder and CEO of Rubicon International, states: “This operation represents a strong commitment by Rubicon to the continent. For us, it is a strategic move to help redefine the map of innovation in Europe, the Mediterranean and the world, with all the positive impacts that this can bring. We share the urgency of implementing Harmonic Innovation Group’s vision on a large scale to create a global innovation platform focused on sustainable development and effective collaboration between the various public and private actors involved. We share the same vision and values. To build the common good. . The alliance between Harmonic Innovation Group’s vision and ecosystem and Consorzio Rubicon – IMCI+’s network and investment tools will be disruptive and is set to redefine innovation models and tools for accessing capital, thanks in part to the Fintech platform that Rubicon is currently developing.
Through its subsidiaries and activities, Harmonic Innovation Group is now one of the most comprehensive players in the sector, covering the entire innovation chain and dividing its activities into three macro areas: Innovation, Tech Factories, and Real Estate.
Once the bootstrap phase is complete, the Group will begin the development phase in the 2026-2030 planning horizon, supporting a careful investment policy aimed at creating an open ecosystem capable of generating financial, industrial and cultural value for the quality and variety of its biodiversity, attracting major players, investment funds, research and competence centres, innovative start-ups and SMEs, and young talent.
The approved plan includes investments and acquisitions in: highly specialised tech factories, start-ups and scale-ups with a particular focus on AI, boutique companies with high-value expertise in the fields of foresight, tech transfer, advisory and VC. At the same time, the start-up phase of the Innovation and Research Labs will be launched, together with the development of the digital platform. At the same time, the first part of the development of the core of the physical platform will be completed, with the network of large Harmonic Innovation Hubs, the ‘places of the future’. In addition to the 40,000 m² Harmonic Innovation Hub Pitagora in Tiriolo (CZ), which is nearing completion, work has begun on the Harmonic Innovation Hub Archimede, in the industrial area of Catania, covering over 22,000 m², and the space for the Harmonic Innovation Hub in Lecce has already been identified. At the same time, the first five international spokes (likely in the USA, France, Spain, India and Africa) will be launched, adding to the network of 12 small physical spokes (owned by the subsidiary Gate REI) across Italy.
Of course, in order to achieve all this, a major campaign to strengthen the team is also planned, which will double from the current 400 or so people, net of acquisitions.
Thanks to a targeted investment strategy, the plan aims to increase consolidated production value tenfold, from €50 million in 2025 to approximately €500 million by 2030. This growth will also be reflected in an increase in the fair value of the holdings, which is estimated to rise from the current €350 million to €1 billion, to which will be added the value of the real estate assets, estimated to reach approximately €200 million.
At the heart of Harmonic Innovation Group’s integrated offering will be membership of the collaborative Ecosystem Platform, through a variety of channels including Innovation and Research Labs. At the same time, the group’s various vehicles will continue their market activities in three different verticals: Innovation, Tech Factories and Real Estate Innovation.
Emanuele Spampinato, CEO of Harmonic Innovation Group, concludes: “We have already seen concrete evidence of how participation in our ecosystem promotes growth for everyone. The dialogue and collaborations initiated with the OECD, the World Bank, the Italian Government and foreign embassies, as well as with the main global innovation ecosystems, are proof of this. The collaboration between members of the ecosystem promoted through the physical and digital platform serves to create widespread value through the generation of qualified deal flow, the development of stable strategic and industrial collaborative relationships between stakeholders, support for venture building of investment targets, and the implementation of related activities for growth and impact creation in line with sustainable development objectives.
2EFFE Holding is one of the shareholders subscribing to the €30 million capital increase with which Antonio and Angelo Ferraro, founding partners of Harmonic Innovation Group, are renewing their commitment to the ‘Harmonic Innovation’ model they have supported since its inception. In line with the path taken in recent years, the operation reinforces their commitment to a vision of development that aims to correct the distorting effects of industrial and innovation models driven solely by profit maximisation for the few, directing capital and skills towards projects capable of generating shared value in the territories.
Ferraro S.p.A. is also moving in this direction, becoming one of the leading companies in Harmonious Innovation in the construction sector. In 2025, the Group established a Strategic Steering Committee chaired by Enrico Giovannini, former Minister of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility, with the task of guiding the company in its medium- to long-term industrial decisions, integrating scientific vision, corporate responsibility and attention to the social, cultural and environmental impact of major works.
The strengthening of the commitment to HIG and its mission is part of a solid growth trajectory for Ferraro S.p.A., which closed 2024 with increased production value and improved margins, and is experiencing a 2025 characterised by a strong increase in revenues and an expanding order book. The stated goal is to double the volume of business compared to 2024, with an increasingly central role for Southern Italy in terms of both active construction sites and new employment, thanks in part to the development plan for CIPA and the Group’s other assets.
“For us, this transaction is not just a financial investment, but confirmation of a vision that we have shared with HIG since the beginning of its journey,” said Antonio and Angelo Ferraro. “Harmonious Innovation is an interesting approach for us, especially in a complex sector such as construction, where every project has an impact on the life of local areas and communities. From the Swimming Stadium in Taranto, linked to the Mediterranean Games, to the Cascina Merlata school in Milan, to the Harmonic Innovation Hubs Pitagora in Tiriolo and Archimede in Catania, conceived as places of the future, we work every day on projects that have a real impact on cities. This is also why we are closely following the Mediterranean vision of innovation promoted by HIG, which combines industrial development, quality of spaces and social cohesion, and is one of the reasons why we have chosen to strengthen our commitment to the project.
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