The programme
Group sessions and specialist consulting built around the challenges of your business.
How it works
Training and consulting, together
Part of the programme takes place with the group of selected businesses, where learning from peers is part of the value. Alongside it, a share of the work is dedicated to your team alone, on the challenges of your business.
With the group
- 11
Thematic masterclasses
Two hours each, online, with lecturers from the Isola, a|cube and Avanzi ecosystem. They cover business model and strategy, impact measurement, economic sustainability, markets and internationalisation, finance and investor relations, communication and governance. The eight businesses follow them together: it’s where you also learn from the others’ problems.
- 6
Inspirational Talks
Two hours each, online. Founders, investors and experts talk about the job from their point of view: how they built their business, what they would do again, what they look for when they assess a project. Less lecture and more conversation, with room for the teams’ questions.
- 3
Networking meetings
Half a day in person, at Isola. Each meeting puts the businesses in front of a different counterpart: industrial partners for open innovation, local bodies and institutions, impact finance and investors. The third coincides with the final Demo Day.
For your team only
- 12h
One-to-one mentoring
Mentors chosen to match your business and the stage it’s going through. Not a course, but a regular conversation with people who have already been through that step: you bring open decisions and leave with a direction.
- 16h
Specialist advisory
Specialist consulting chosen from the On-Demand catalogue: twenty services in six areas, from intellectual property to impact measurement, from the financial plan to communication. You take only the ones you need, in the order you need them.
- 6h
Lean tutoring
Short cycles of goal setting, monitoring and review with your tutor. You set a growth hypothesis, test it and look at what happened: it’s the mechanism that holds the rest of the programme together.
Specialist consulting
A tailored programme
Specialist consulting runs alongside the acceleration programme, for the full twelve months: while the group sessions go ahead, your team works with specialists on its own challenges. This is where a business can really grow, and that’s why it’s the most valuable part of the programme.
The catalogue isn’t a package you buy in full: it’s a menu to draw from. Together with your tutor you set the goals for the twelve months, and from there you choose the services you really need, in the order you need them. Every service is delivered by specialists from the Isola, a|cube and Avanzi ecosystem, and is measured in days of work on your business.
Growth
Where the business is heading in the coming years and how it gets there: positioning, business model, markets to open.
- Impact strategy and positioning
- Business Model Evolution
- Market analysis and expansion
- Internationalisation
Innovation
Taking the solution from prototype to product, and protecting it.
- Applied innovation and tech validation
- Service Design for Change
- Intellectual property and patents
Finance
The numbers behind the plan and the tools to fund it, public and private.
- Economic and financial analysis and planning
- Investment Readiness
- Funding and subsidised finance
Communication
Making yourself understood by the market, the community and investors, with a story that stands up to the facts.
- Communication strategy and branding
- Marketing and stakeholder engagement
- Impact storytelling
Governance
How decisions are made and who does what, as the business grows and the team expands.
- Organisational structure and roles
- Leadership and decision-making processes
- HR and talent acquisition
- Impact certifications and standards
Impact
Measuring what you generate, not just declaring it: indicators, data and verifiable reporting.
- Environmental impact assessment
- Social impact assessment
- Impact reporting and communication
The timeline
From September 2026 to the Demo Day
Five phases, each with a stated goal.
- Sep / Oct 2026
Scouting and selection
Choosing the businesses and designing the tailored programme together with the tutor.
- Nov 2026 / Jan 2027
Developing
The programme starts, with the first catalogue services: business model, impact validation, market.
- Feb / Apr 2027
Launching
Product development, technology validation, first proofs of concept with the ecosystem’s corporates.
- May / Jun 2027
Scaling
Business plan, internationalisation, getting ready to meet investors.
- Jul / Sep 2027
Demo Day
The close of the programme and a public pitch in front of businesses, investors and partners.
Who supports you
The team behind you
A mix of top-level expertise, local, national and international. The organisations in the cluster are among Italy’s leaders in social innovation and impact acceleration.
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Alessandro Calcagno
Isola CataniaWorks on administration, finance and control, with experience in the financial management of funded projects and in supporting businesses on business models and planning.
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Lavinia Carrese
a|cubeConsultant on impact assessment, theory of change, financial modelling and investment readiness. Experienced in designing ESG and impact models, analysing financial plans and developing growth strategies for startups and innovative SMEs.
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Davide Dal Maso
AvanziOne of the pioneers of sustainable finance in Italy, Davide helped found the Italian Sustainable Investment Forum and works on ESG standards, reporting and impact assessment. Teaches and supports businesses and investors in adopting sustainability criteria.
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Leonardo Daniele
Isola CataniaWorks on scouting, selecting and supporting startups and innovative businesses, with experience in running acceleration programmes and in relations with investors and corporates.
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Martina Magnano
Isola CataniaWorks on designing and managing funded programmes, with experience in coordinating partnerships, reporting and relations with public bodies and funders.
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Alessandro Messina
AvanziAn economist who has worked for years on ethical finance, credit and local development, with experience in cooperative banks, the third sector and public administration. Author of essays and research on social-purpose business models.
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Alberto Muscari Tomajoli
a|cubeSenior consultant and COO of a|cube, working on support and strategic advice for businesses with social, environmental and cultural impact. Experienced in building financial models, applying validation methods (Lean Startup) and service design, and defining sustainable business models.
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Ilaria Pais
a|cubeDesigns and coordinates acceleration programmes for impact businesses, following teams from selection to market, with experience in supervising mentors and tutors.
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Antonio Perdichizzi
Isola CataniaSocial entrepreneur, founder of Isola Catania and Fondazione Marea, former Chair of Junior Achievement Italia and now on the board of JA Worldwide. For twenty years Antonio has worked on the relationship between new generations, enterprise and the regions of Southern Italy.
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Matteo Prizzon
a|cubeWorks on preparing businesses to meet investors: financial modelling, business plans and investment documents, with experience in funding rounds and in relations with impact finance.
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Davide Zanoni
a|cubeExpert in impact finance, social business and the impact assessment of social and environmental projects. Experienced in designing innovative financial instruments and advising public bodies, businesses and NGOs on economic sustainability, business models and development strategies.
The cluster
Who runs Naturae
Impact Tech Hub is the innovation cluster that runs the programme: Isola Catania as lead partner, with a|cube and Avanzi. Three organisations that have worked on impact for years, each with a different craft.
Isola Catania
Cluster lead partnerA social innovation hub founded in Catania in 2021, a social enterprise and Certified B Corporation. About a thousand square metres inside Palazzo Biscari where work, training, culture and dialogue live side by side, and where businesses, institutions, research and the third sector pass through every day.
In the cluster it’s the lead partner: it oversees the programme, the selection and the relationship with the region, and opens up to businesses the archipelago of more than a hundred organisations it works with. It’s also the physical place where the programme takes place and where the startups have their operating base.
a|cube
PartnerAn incubator and accelerator for impact businesses, one of the first in Italy to work in a structured way with startups that put social and environmental impact at the heart of their business model.
In the cluster it designs the structure of the acceleration programme, coordinates mentors and specialist advisory, and helps teams prepare to face the market and investors.
Avanzi
PartnerA benefit corporation that since 1997 has worked on sustainability, social innovation and impact finance, with clients among businesses, public administrations and third-sector organisations.
In the cluster it brings the impact method: measurement, theory of change, ESG standards and reporting. It also manages a fund dedicated to impact businesses, which gives teams a prospect of investment beyond the programme.
Apply
Applications open soon
We’ll publish the opening date for applications here as soon as it’s set. In the meantime, if you would like to talk, get in touch and we’ll answer any questions you have about the programme.
Apply
Applications open soon
We’ll publish the opening date for applications here as soon as it’s set. In the meantime, if you would like to talk, get in touch and we’ll answer any questions you have about the programme.
Speak soon
Thank you for your message, we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Naturae is a programme funded under the PR FESR Sicilia 2021-2027, Azione 1.1.3, call «Open Innovation Sicilia», with resources from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Italian State and the Sicilian Region.
- Lead applicant · Innovation cluster
- Polo di Innovazione Impact Tech Hub (Aggregazione: Isola Catania Impresa Sociale S.r.l., ACUBE SB S.r.l., Avanzi S.P.A SB)
- Programme name
- Naturae: New Accelerator for Technologies, Use and Regeneration of Adaptive Ecosystems
- Programme type
- Acceleration programme
- Project CUP code
- G61F25000930006
- PRATT
- 45124
