Fondazione CRT – Cassa di Risparmio di Torino is a private non-profit organisation founded in 1991. For 28 years it has been one of the “drivers” of the development and growth of Piedmont and the Aosta Valley in three macro-areas: Art and Culture, Research and Education, Welfare and Territory. It intervenes with its own projects and resources for the enhancement of artistic heritage and cultural activities, the promotion of scientific research and training of young people, support for innovation and social entrepreneurship, assistance to people in difficulty, environmental protection, the civil protection system and first response systems.
In over a quarter of a century of activity, Fondazione CRT has distributed resources amounting to 1.9 billion euros and has enabled more than 40,000 interventions to be carried out for the territory, with non-disbursing support, but also planning support: all of this, listening to the needs of the territory itself and of the aggregative, institutional and non-profit organisations.
Fondazione CRT is active in the main international philanthropy networks, such as EFC (European Foundation Centre), EVPA (European Venture Philanthropy Association), and implements projects also with the United Nations, with the dual objective of strengthening local non-profit organizations through opening up to Europe and the world and, at the same time, attracting new talent and resources to the territory.
Fondazione CRT has also re-developed the OGR-Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin, with 100 million euros: the largest direct investment on a single project, as well as one of the largest examples of venture philanthropy in Europe. Former train repair shops built in the nineteenth century on an area of 35,000 square meters in the heart of the city, the OGR is now an experimental centre with an international vocation with three “souls”: art and culture, scientific, technological and industrial research, food.
The opening of the Tech area has given life to an innovation hub focused on verticals of excellence such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, with four different players: startups, scaleups and accelerators of global importance such as Techstars; national and international corporations engaged in research and development activities such as Microsoft; investors; smart data applied research centres. The challenge is to help Italy fill part of the gap on Tech, catalyzing in OGR half a billion euros of investments and 1,000 new accelerated start-ups in the next twenty years.
