his story
Maurizio Rossi
Founder & CEO, H-FARM
Curiosity-driven dreamer and always a keen observer, Maurizio, father of four, likes to discover and understand differences of people’s lifestyles and their cultures. He’s fascinated how technologies impact our day life and about their influence in society and culture. Thanks to his dynamic personality he has developed an important network of international connections.
Graduated as ship captain and afterwards vice champion of offshore powerboat racing, he started his entrepreneurial career at the Rossi Group family business mainly involved in the luxury and newspaper publishing businesses. His early work experience was in developing the internationalization of Rossimoda, a luxury footwear company, first serving as vice-president and then board member of the Rossi Group.
In the early 1990’s, he founded a specific division of the group focused on action-sport apparel and equipment, developing the company’s international business via partnerships, as well licensing some of the most established brands and companies, such as NoFear, Rusty, Spy Optics, just to mention a few, and reaching in 10 years an important size.
In between the years 2002 and 2004, the acquisition of the footwear branch by the leading luxury holding company LVMH, as well of the main publishing arm, created a major way out of the family from their current businesses. Maurizio then spent one year to expand Yachtworld.com, the leading yachting marketplace throughout the Mediterranean area.
In 2005, Maurizio, together with his partner Riccardo Donadon, co-founded H-FARM to pioneer the startup industry over Italy and Europe, with the role of Co-CEO of the listed holding company and focused on international relations.
He is also an executive member of the VATC (Vatican Art & Technology Council), chaired by Arianna Huffington and a selected group of worldwide senior technologists and art experts, and member of the Kellogg Innovation Network (KIN), a worldwide innovator’s community related to the Northwestern Kellogg School of Chicago.
H-FARM is an innovative platform that supports the creation of new business models, the digital transformation and the training of large international corporations toward open innovation. Structured as a campus where a young community of over 600 people work and about 300 study, H-FARM is considered as a one-of-a-kind company world-wide.
H-FARM was the first company in the world to choose a model formed from both incubation and acceleration activities for young businesses and digital transformation services for traditional enterprises. Thanks to the major network of partners and investors established in its first 10 years, every year H-FARM analyzes and evaluates over 1000 projects and selects the best ones to enter different programs every season. An academic study program from pre-school through college and master degrees are also of H- FARM activities.