BIAT, the Innovation and High Technology Exchange, was held March 2 to 3 at the Le Ciminiere Congress Center in Catania. The event, now in its third edition, brings together foreign investors, companies, accelerators, incubators and research and development centers, on the one hand, and start-ups, innovative projects and Italian technological excellence from southern regions, on the other.

BIAT's goal is to create meeting and exchange opportunities between foreign operators and Italian start-ups. The initiative's well-established format includes pitches, concise presentations by Italian companies to investors, and speed dating, short B2B meetings.
BIAT 2017 was attended by more than 200 delegates from various foreign countries (USA, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Korea, Brazil, India, Singapore, UK, Japan, Israel, China, UAE, Turkey, Poland, Russia) and 80 Italian start-ups.

The program of BIAT 2017 also included a stage dedicated to the ICT sector and in particular the University of Calabria cluster in which Canadian, American and Korean delegates took part.
BIAT is an initiative of the Export South Plan, promoted by the Ministry of Economic Development in collaboration with the so-called Convergence Regions: Campania, Calabria, Puglia and Sicily.

For more information about the initiative, contact info [at] machinesitalia.org (subject: Machines Italia E-newsletter)