From Isolation to Integration: Can Sardinia Build a Truly Distributed Innovation Ecosystem?

Sardinia’s innovation landscape is alive with potential—but not yet united by purpose.

Across the island, there are research centers, incubators, coworking spaces, and digital hubs all doing extraordinary work. Yet too often, they operate in parallel rather than in sync.

The challenge (and the opportunity) is to connect these efforts into a coherent ecosystem, one capable of turning Sardinia’s geographic isolation into a strategic advantage.

This article isn’t a celebration of what already exists. It’s a call to start the conversation that’s still missing: How might researchers, entrepreneurs, institutions, and communities work together to shape a truly integrated Sardinian innovation model?

Good news: it's already beginning to happen.

Bad news: it's fragmented without clear lines of communication. Too many of the actors are busy building silos.

So let's talk about what happens next.

1. The Foundations Exist — But They Need Alignment

Sardinia already has the architecture for innovation: world-class research centers, regional programs, and digital transition initiatives.

But without deeper collaboration, these foundations remain fragmented, like strong pillars standing tall but very far apart—geographically, operationally, and existentially.

• CRS4 (Pula): The island’s research powerhouse, advancing High-Performance Computing and Big Data — the scientific base of many industrial applications.
• Sardegna Ricerche: The Regional Agency for Research and Technology Development. This agency is the fundamental institutional pillar, managing the multi-site Technology Park of Sardinia (in Pula, Uta, Alghero, and Oristano) and serving as the primary policy and funding body that provides the physical and strategic infrastructure for industrial R&D.
• e.INS Ecosystem: Funded by the national PNRR program, this network of 10 “Spokes” has the potential to be Sardinia’s innovation framework — if it can connect effectively to the entrepreneurial layer.
• SharD-HUB & DIH Sardegna (Cagliari): Both play key roles in digital transformation, helping SMEs modernize. What’s missing is a shared interface that links their efforts with the rest of the ecosystem.

These institutions hold enormous knowledge capital. The question is how to make that knowledge circulate — not just within projects, but across the island.

If we can open the doors, will you join us?

2. The Urban Engines: Strong, Yet Often Disconnected

In Cagliari and Sassari, vibrant startup ecosystems are growing fast.

Each accelerator and innovation hub adds a unique contribution, but the flow between them remains limited.

• The Net Value (Cagliari): A certified incubator supporting early-stage startups in Web and SaaS with mentorship and funding.
• Open Campus Tiscali (Cagliari): A lively hub combining co-working, training, and acceleration programs under a strong tech brand.
• CTE Cagliari Digital Lab: A public-private initiative testing Smart City solutions in real environments.
• Abinsula (Sassari): A leader in Industrial IoT and Mobility, linking Northern Sardinia to global markets.
• Innovation Lab (Sassari): A Digital Competence Center that helps SMEs embrace Industry 4.0 technologies.

Each hub is doing valuable work... but too often in isolation.

The opportunity lies in creating cross-hub learning loops: where a startup accelerated in Cagliari can test industrial solutions in Sassari or co-develop smart applications with researchers in Pula. Cross-pollination and cross-contamination between the founders and their partners must to happen on a regular basis.

Because it creates incredible value for everyone involved.

3. The Connectors: The Social Fabric of Innovation

Beyond technology, innovation depends on culture, community, and human capital.

Sardinia’s connectors, the grassroots initiatives and coworking spaces, already embody this collaborative spirit.

• Entrepreneurs Meet (Cagliari): A community platform that regularly gathers founders and professionals, helping ideas circulate through open dialogue.
• Innois (Cagliari): Promotes entrepreneurship as both a career and a lifestyle, feeding the regional talent pipeline.
• Mine Vaganti NGO (Olbia): Works to ensure digital transformation reaches marginalized communities, turning inclusion into innovation.
• Olbia Innovation Hub & Tech Valley: Extends the ecosystem to Northern Sardinia, aiming to create a regional Tech Valley adapted to local strengths.
• Aurora Coworking (Iglesias): On the island’s southwest coast, Aurora attracts digital nomads and local professionals, bringing new energy to a region long associated with industrial decline.
• Nodi Itaca is a grassroots, community-driven initiative that focuses on connecting Sardinia's human and social capital, rather than physical infrastructure or initial business incubation.

These organizations prove that collaboration can happen at any scale, in a dedicated space or dynamically—by moving from place to place. What’s missing is a systemic bridge connecting them; a way to make community-driven innovation visible and impactful across regions.

We are all connectors, if we approach this effort with inclusion and a true sense of collaboration.

4. What’s Missing: A Culture of Shared Intelligence

The ecosystem’s elements are in place. What’s lacking is alignment — a common rhythm and infrastructure that lets knowledge, talent, and opportunities flow naturally.

To move forward, Sardinia needs to focus less on creating new hubs and focus even more on connecting the existing ones.

Here’s where the conversation should begin:

1. Shared Talent Rotation: Enable mobility between research centers, startups, and public institutions — turning collaboration into a normal part of career paths.
2. Open Knowledge Exchange: Connect community initiatives (like Entrepreneurs Meet, Aurora Coworking or The Net Value) to institutional hubs for continuous peer learning.
3. Unified Digital Platform: Build a common online interface where funding calls, mentorship programs, and collaborative projects are accessible from anywhere on the island.

These are not future visions — they are immediate actions that can redefine Sardinia’s innovation trajectory.

5. A Collective Invitation: Building the Next Chapter Together

Sardinia’s next breakthrough won’t come from a new research project or a single success story.

It will come from the moment we decide to talk to each other — consistently, strategically, and with purpose.

This is an open invitation to every hub, institution, entrepreneur, and policymaker on the island:

When cooperation becomes the default, Sardinia can evolve from an archipelago of initiatives into a connected organism — one that learns, adapts, and grows as a whole.

The question is no longer who leads innovation in Sardinia.

The real question is: When will we start leading it together?

The vision for a connected Sardinia is clear. Now, we need the talent, insights, and collaboration to chart the course. If you are ready to help build the missing links, your expertise is essential to this mission.

Below is a mapped overview of the main entrepreneurial and innovation hubs in Sardinia, pinpointed by city and address, feel free to get in touch with us to improve this list.

And we're just getting started.