CDP Venture Capital, in partnership with Scientifica Venture Capital, has officially launched SophIA, the new National Technology Transfer Hub dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cybersecurity. Developed to bridge the gap between academic scientific research and the commercial market, the initiative aims to transform deeptech research into viable startups and accelerate national technological competitiveness and sovereignty.

The new hub launches with an initial financial allocation of €27.5 million, funded through CDP Venture Capital’s Technology Transfer Fund and Artificial Intelligence Fund. Over the next three years, SophIA aims to support the creation and scaling of more than 20 spin-offs and early-stage ventures across proof-of-concept, pre-seed, and seed phases.

Combining public and private capital, SophIA creates an integrated ecosystem of financial, entrepreneurial, and scientific expertise. Its scientific founders and academic partners include prominent Italian research institutions such as Università Federico II di Napoli, Politecnico di Milano, the Italian Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI4I), Fondazione Bruno Kessler, and the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). Additionally, ongoing agreements with major corporate industrial partners are being finalized to support market validation and technology deployment.

SophIA’s technological scope spans the entire AI value chain—from foundation models and multimodal architectures to intelligent agents, space robotics, digital twins, edge computing, neuromorphic hardware, and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. Furthermore, cybersecurity is embedded at its core to ensure secure digital infrastructure across industrial, scientific, and healthcare applications, including advanced material design, drug discovery, and process automation.

Through this strategic alignment of capital, entrepreneurial execution, and specialized infrastructure, SophIA represents a cornerstone in strengthening technology transfer across Italy, fostering skilled employment, and enabling breakthrough lab research to successfully scale into global markets.