(Originally published on StartupItalia! )
Do you have an American Dream? You may come to New York and see how difficult or easy it is to pursue it, thanks to ICE’s hospitality. In fact the Italian Trade Commission has opened its doors to Italian startups willing to test the water.
It’s part of its new commitment to help Italian startups to enter the American market.
That’s good news to begin the new year with, while on the other hand the project of creating a space in New York for European startups has been stalled.
First, the good news. The Italian Trade Commission has a prestigious location in New York, a townhouse on 67th street, close to Fifth Avenue. The director Pier Paolo Celeste, who is also the coordinator of all ICE offices in the US, has just announced the launch of the bimonthly newsletter “SUV –StartUp Value”. The goal is to inform about the high-tech sector in North America.
“We will tell you the sentiment from NYC and Los Angeles, the two areas that are more involved in technology innovation – explained Mr. Celeste -. We’ll tell you which actions are the most effective in order to be heard in the cradle of startups. We’ll inform about the most important initiatives in this industry such as trade shows, conferences, job markets and so on”.
The first issue of the newsletter will be out in February: you may receive it sending an email to newyork@ice.it.
You can also send ideas, suggestions and questions to suvnewsletter@ice.it. And – as I wrote earlier – you may ask to be hosted for a while at ICE’s offices in New York. The space is limited but free, and some Italians have already taken advantage of this opportunity, for example the founders of Qwikword, a “new social media app” that launched its operations last October.
Now, the bad news. You may remember that in November 2013 Talent Garden was one of the 20 finalists at the H.E.L.M. (Hire + Expand in Lower Manhattan) competition. Since then Elio Narciso has been trying to find partners to open the first international co-working space in New York. Last year the idea was to work with the European American Chambers of Commerce in the United States (EACC) and create a “Euro Garden” or “The leading hub for European entrepreneurs in the US”.
Talent Garden and the EACC tried to get funding and space from the new START-UP NY program launched in 2014 by the New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo: the creation of tax-free zones across the state for new and expanding businesses. But they were offered locations far away from New York City, because the program wants to stimulate economic growth in underdeveloped areas upstate NY. Besides, the program offers tax incentives, but not cash money. Actually, according to some critics, Cuomo’s startup program has not been a great success so far, that’s why “the Empire State Development Corp. quietly announced it’s delaying its promised report on START-UP NY by four months”, wrote Claudia Tenney on the New York Post.
Anyway, at this point the Euro Garden is still a dream, but not dead yet. In four weeks or so the EACC board will meet to discuss the project again and see if it is feasible with private funding.
Qwikword was founded in 2013 by Gianmarco Crismale, Fulvio Menegozzo, Matteo Pivetta, Alberto Grimaldi and Luca Monfredo, and because of its global ambitions it chose to be headquartered in New York City with satellite offices located in Italy and Hong Kong.
