Hall Fabriq (2)
Social enterprise

FabriQ, innovation starts from the outskirts

19 October Oct 2016 1110 19 October 2016
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FabriQ is the city of Milan’s incubator for social innovation. Located in the outskirt of Quarto Oggiaro, it supports the best enterprise ideas with strong social impact.

FabriQ is the city of Milan’s incubator for social innovation. Located in the outskirt of Quarto Oggiaro, it is managed by Fondazione Brodolini and Impact Hub Milano. Based in a 600 m2 library, it aims at being the centre for innovation for the outskirt of Quarto Oggiaro, and all the city of Milan.
Let's find out more about them.

What does FabriQ do?
FabriQ is an incubator for enterprises and non profit organisations, and it also makes social innovation projects. The incubator advises and supports companies and non profit organisations in various areas, from culture to education, to sharing economy. FabriQ also makes social innovation programmes in collaboration with the city of Milan and other local organisations.
​«We have implemented a social enterprise education programme in schools, where we have taught what working in a team means and how to develop an idea. The aim of the programme is to give students the means to create their own enterprise or to work inside an enterprise», explains Antonio Dell’Atti, project manager of FabriQ. In Quarto Oggiaro the incubator also works with Fondazione Welfare Ambrosiano and Acli, with which it has implemented sustainable development projects for dependent people.

Fabriq 13 (1) Coworking


FabriQ has supported 40 start-ups
FabriQ has supported 40 start-ups in 3 years. The award ceremony of the incubator’s first Call 4 Social Innovators will take place on the 28th of October at the incubator’s headquarters, in Quarto Oggiaro. The innovators’ projects are aimed at contributing to improving the outskirts of Quarto Oggiaro, at producing social impact in the metropolitan area of Milan and at supporting self-entrepreneurship.

FabriQ’s facts and figures
The 40 start-ups incubated by FabriQ have won important prizes, such as the European Venture Summit, Unicredit StartLab, Premio Marzotto and Premio Intesa. FabriQ’s community is made up of: + 20 mentors and tutors, + 10 associations and schools of Quarto Oggiaro, +5 partner enterprises, + 300 Hubbers from Impact Hub Milano, and by the Municipality of Milan. The start-ups incubated by FabriQ have raised 4.5 million euro funds. Around 100 people have found a job thanks to the incubator.

Successful start-ups incubated by FabriQ
XMetrics is among the successful start-ups incubated by FabriQ. An activity tracker to improve swimmers’ performances, it gives real-time audio feedback. Among the successful start-ups incubated by FabriQ there is also Jointly, a shared corporate welfare platform, “improving both the life of those who work and the results of their work”.
FabriQ, Quarto Oggiaro and beyond
In Turin, in cooperation with the city’s municipality, the Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini has developed a centre for international open innovation, called OpenIncet, that is part of the strategies implemented by the programme Torino Social Innovation. OpenIncet is based in an area called “Quartiere Barriera di Milano”, that represents one of the most important projects of the Urban Barriera regeneration programme.
The Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini is also the promoter of MHUMA, together with the LUISS University of Rome and Italia Camp, a multifunctional space and a hub for start-ups, makers and co-workers of about 2,000 square meters that will be opened in March 2017 in the Garibaldi area, in the heart of Milan.

Pictures: courtesy of FabriQ