Donata Folesani

Finance for Innovation, Intellectual Property Unit Manager - ART-ER

She has started working in ASTER - consortium company of Emilia-Romagna Region for innovation and technology transfer - in 1991, dealing with European programmes and schemes. She is currently Head of Access to Finance and Intellectual Property Unit in the Research and Innovation Division of ART-ER - the new company established in May 2019 from the merger of ASTER and ERVET. The Unit carries out information and support activities and develops projects, both at regional and national and international level, concerning: start-ups and SMEs access to finance, investor readiness and investor relations, protection and management of knowledge and intellectual property in technology transfer and in science-industry collaboration.

She is an expert evaluator for the European Commission and for regional and local institutions in terms of supporting innovation and innovative business creation.

She is a member of KIC Raw Material Intellectual Property Committee - https://eitrawmaterials.eu/ - and member  of the European Intellectual Property Helpdesk Ambassadors team  (https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/ambassador).