MachinePoint’s CEO addresses entrepreneurs at InnovAction, Udine.

From 9 to 12 February, 2006, the first InnovAction’06 was held in Udine, Italy. This show, the first in this format in Italy, was aimed at entrepreneurs and investors looking for networking, capital and investment opportunities. César Rodríguez, Founder and CEO of MachinePoint, was among the key note speakers at the event.

For an audience of more than 350 entrepreneurs and venture capital investors, Rodríguez stressed the importance of ‘business angels’ as a fundamental element in the company building process. “Daniel Zumino, MachinePoint’s business angel, played a vital role in the initial start up of the company and still does, six years on. This allowed MachinePoint, in the aftermath of the internet-bubble and supported by Warburg Pincus Ventures, to become profitable and develop into one of the most effective sales organizations in the used industrial machinery market,” he explained.

Other speakers at the event were Pierluigi Paracchi, Managing Director of Quantica SGR and member of the Italian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, Dinesh Ahluwalia, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Development - University of Illinois, Lou Goldish, Mentoring Service of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Diassina i Maggio, Director the Association for the Promotion of Research in Europe (APRE).

In total more than 300 start-ups in IT, BioTech and Medical Sciences, and hundreds of professional investors attended InnovAction’06, which was organized with the support of the Regional Government of the Regione Autonoma Friuli-Venzezia-Giulia, the Universities of Udine and Trento, the Friuli Chamber of Commerce, the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), the Italian Business Angel Network (IBAN) and several technology and science parks in Italy.

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