ANTARES VISION GROUP INVESTS IN ISINNOVA WITH A 15% STAKE
The “technological start-up”, based in Brescia and owned by Cristian Fracassi, aims to be a Research and Development Centre and an enabler of innovation to improve the quality of life.
Antares Vision Group announces that it has acquired 15% of the share capital of Isinnova, a Brescia-based technological start-up owned by Cristian Fracassi, which enables technological innovation and makes the same accessible through projects such as life-saving oxygen masks during the Covid-19 emergency and low-cost prostheses for Ukraine. The total amount paid for the stake is Euro 1.5 million.
What is Isinnova?
Founded in 2014, Isinnova seeks to be a research and development centre, a provider of innovation services, and defines itself as a “Knowledge-Intensive Business Service”. In addition, it acts as an intermediary to transfer ideas and technologies from a sector that designs them to another that has a technological requirement or a problem to solve.
“Technological innovation has always represented an important driver for our growth; on an annual basis, around 7-8% of revenues are invested in Research and Development, plus investments in technological start-ups. With Isinnova, we are already working on several projects, and we will continue to invest in innovation, confident that we can jointly develop innovative solutions, especially in the area of product quality control and focusing on the future evolution of the sectors we operate in”, commented Massimo Bonardi, Co-CEO of Antares Vision Group.
Cristian Fracassi is CEO and founder of Isinnova, a building-architectural engineer with a doctorate in Materials Engineering and a Master’s in economics and development of business ideas. Knight of merit of the Italian Republic for the Easy-Covid 19 project, he is the inventor of numerous patents and has a strong passion for innovation and the search for tangible solutions. In 2020, he received the “Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice 2020”, considered the Nobel prize for social impact.
“For over a year, both companies have sought to structure an already active partnership. Our strength of developing innovation, especially in the field of medicine, is a good match with the significant expertise that Antares Vision Group has in this and other sectors. We are convinced that the partnership could lead to new ideas for AV Group to industrialize and propose to the market and could provide Isinnova with new innovative projects to focus on. Furthermore, it gives both the opportunity to study the application of the technologies used by various industrial sectors to diversify investment and validate innovation in numerous markets”, commented Fracassi.
During the most complicated times of the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to the support of Doctor Renato Favero, Fracassi and Isinnova invented a ventilator by adapting a snorkelling mask from a well-known chain of sports articles, with a valve printed with 3D technology. The mask became a valuable medical device to all intents and purposes, able to mechanically ventilate patients with breathing difficulties, then extending the project to the network so that it could be easily replicated. His story had travelled from Lombardy to the United States, appreciated all over the world, not only due to the innovative nature of the product but also due to the spirit of sharing that had characterised the initiative, as the printing codes were made accessible to anyone that requested them. Three years have passed, and Cristian Fracassi has continued with his business and philanthropic activities, developing an important new product: a patent for a low-cost prosthesis (less than fifty euros) to be sent to over 3 thousand war survivors in Ukraine, who have had to have a lower limb amputated due to the conflict. It is called “Letizia” and is the result of a project created on the request of a non-profit organisation of Italian doctors active in Ukraine, which asked Isinnova to help develop low-cost tibial and transfemoral prostheses.
Isinnova has distinguished itself over time as one of Italy’s most dynamic, innovative and competent incubators. The team comprises a young group of designers, creators and inventors focused on product innovation. Isinnova has an in-depth and unparalleled mastery of IoT and 3d printing technologies. The company can cover all stages of the development of a business idea: design, prototyping, industrialisation and commercialisation. Each project is developed with the utmost attention to social and ecological issues.
The partnership between Antares Vision Group and Isinnova is already active with the engineering of the intelligent cart (Medication Management Platform) and with the so-called «drone» (a unit that analyses packaging gases) by Pen Tec, a company part of AV Group since 2021.