Bologna hosted the preview of the infrastructure conceived by the PerfeTTO Network and developed with the Maggioli Group: a strategic platform designed to connect research, industry and investors, accelerating innovation adoption across the Life Sciences sector.
Bologna, 24 June 2026 – The PerfeTTO Network today unveiled its digital platform during the 13th edition of We Make Future, introducing Italy’s pioneering AI-first infrastructure specifically designed for technology transfer in the Life Sciences. The platform was presented during a press conference held at the Sala Concerto of the BolognaFiere Service Centre, attended by representatives of the PerfeTTO Network, the Maggioli Group and the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government.
The platform represents one of the key strategic assets of the PerfeTTO Network, Italy’s first national network dedicated to technology transfer in the Life Sciences. The Network brings together 54 centres of excellence, including public and private IRCCSs (Scientific Institutes for Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare), universities, foundations and university hospitals across the country.
The infrastructure has been designed to address one of the major challenges facing Italy’s innovation ecosystem: the so-called “valley of death”, the critical stage at which promising scientific ideas and inventions often fail to reach the market. Moving from research to commercialization requires different skills, resources and timelines than scientific research itself, and it is precisely during this transition that many promising technologies lose momentum, preventing research outcomes from becoming real-world solutions for patients.
“PerfeTTO was created with the ambition of building a national technology transfer community for the Life Sciences. The platform we presented today marks a decisive step towards that goal: it is not simply a digital tool, but a collaborative environment designed to connect expertise, technologies and opportunities, enabling a more effective valorisation of Italian research,” said Erica Rurali, General Manager of PerfeTTO and representative of IRCCS Centro Cardiologico Monzino, the coordinating Hub of the PerfeTTO Network.
The platform has been developed within the PerfeTTO Network under the scientific coordination of IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori “Dino Amadori” (IRST), with contributions from several Network partners, including IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, IRCCS National Institute of Health and Science on Aging (INRCA), University of Trento, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, University of Palermo, IRCCS Synlab SDN, and IRCCS Neuromed.
“Our goal has been to develop a platform capable of providing tangible support to technology transfer professionals by integrating advanced analytics, intellectual property management and technology valorisation tools within a single digital environment. The platform supports experts, accelerates processes and improves decision-making through an AI-first approach, while always keeping the professional at the centre of the interaction, according to the human-in-the-loop philosophy,” explained Luca Battistelli, PerfeTTO WP1 Virtual Platform Leader and representative of IRST, one of the Network’s three coordinating centres.
One of the platform’s most innovative features is its ability to aggregate and make accessible the technological assets generated by the institutions belonging to the Network.
Among the advanced functionalities showcased during the conference was the Innovation Tool, a due diligence system powered by Large Language Models that automates much of the scientific, patent and market screening process. Through standardized workflows and semantic analysis, the tool can rapidly generate structured reports that support the assessment of a technology’s commercialization potential, helping guide decisions related to patenting, investment and industrial development.
Through the Technology Showcase, companies, investors and stakeholders will also be able to browse the innovations developed within the Network through a simple and structured interface. More than 800 patent families have already been mapped across the Network and will progressively become available on the platform. The technologies range from innovative therapeutics and medical devices to advanced diagnostics and digital health solutions, organized according to major therapeutic areas and unmet clinical needs.
The platform’s added value lies not only in increasing the visibility of technologies, but also in enabling new connections between stakeholders who have traditionally operated in isolation. Until now, technology matching between research and industry has relied primarily on the activities of individual Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs), participation in trade fairs and business matching events, or direct relationships developed independently by researchers. While effective, this model has inevitably been fragmented, reflecting the varying size and resources of individual institutions.
The PerfeTTO Network introduces a different approach by bringing together and enhancing the efforts of all participating organizations within a single national infrastructure, presenting itself externally as a unified and recognizable innovation ecosystem. In doing so, the Network becomes both an internal collaboration platform for research institutions and a strategic gateway for companies, investors and innovation stakeholders seeking access to Italian excellence in the Life Sciences.
The platform has been designed following an AI-first approach, based on an agentic artificial intelligence architecture. Unlike traditional systems, which require users to navigate multiple databases and tools manually, PerfeTTO introduces a conversational AI agent capable of understanding natural language requests and automatically activating the most appropriate services.
“PerfeTTO demonstrates that digital innovation today is first and foremost about understanding the real needs of researchers and translating them into tailored solutions,” said Angelo Bianchi, Italy Business Director at the Maggioli Group. “As technology partner, Maggioli has leveraged its expertise and experience to build a system capable of connecting highly diverse organizations—from research hospitals and universities to research centres—thereby accelerating knowledge transfer from the laboratory to the marketplace. This is exactly the kind of project we believe in most: one that combines high added value, extensive customization and the ability to manage complexity in order to strengthen collective know-how. At a time when the Life Sciences sector increasingly depends on strong links between research and industry, our role is to build the technological and relational infrastructure that makes those connections possible.”
The innovation behind the PerfeTTO Network platform does not lie in a single feature, but in its ability to integrate document management, business intelligence, technology assessment, matchmaking services and artificial intelligence into a single ecosystem specifically designed for the Italian Life Sciences and research landscape.
During the conference, speakers also highlighted the strategic role that initiatives such as PerfeTTO can play in strengthening the competitiveness of Italy’s innovation system.
It was confirmed that the full release of the platform is scheduled for September 2026, following a progressive agile development process that has already delivered the technological infrastructure and the first operational modules.
A further opportunity to engage with industry and innovation stakeholders will take place during PerfeTTO Match-Up, scheduled in Milan on 1–2 October 2026, where the platform’s full capabilities will be showcased and new opportunities for collaboration between research organizations, industry and investors will be fostered.
Technology Transfer Officers, researchers, companies, investors and innovation stakeholders interested in following the project’s evolution are invited to subscribe to the PerfeTTO Network Newsletter to receive updates, exclusive previews, information about the official platform launch and future collaboration opportunities within the ecosystem.
