Italian Tech Week 2025: A wave of innovation arrives in Turin.

When you enter the Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin, the first thing you notice is their grandeur: iron trusses, wide naves, ceilings soaring 19 meters. A century ago, this was where Italy kept its trains running. Today, in these same spaces, young businesses are forged. Iron has been replaced by ideas. And in place of engines, startups are revving up—and accelerating.

The rebirth of the OGR—spared from demolition and brought back to life after over a thousand days of work and more than €100 million invested by the CRT Foundation —began in 2017 with the inauguration of the "Cult" area, dedicated to culture and entertainment. In 2019, the "Tech" area was added, completing the transformation from a railway workshop to an innovation hub.

With their exposed red brick and majestic cast iron columns, the OGR doesn't deny its glorious industrial past. But they have quickly become a fascinating cathedral of the future.

This is where Italian Tech Week , the innovation conference organized by Vento and Exor Ventures in collaboration with the GEDI Publishing Group , takes place every year in early autumn. It's the only event capable of attracting some of the most visionary minds of our time to our country: from Elon Musk , who spoke in 2021, to Sam Altman , the protagonist of the 2023 and 2024 editions.

This year's edition, scheduled for October 1-3, will feature Jeff Bezos as its guest of honor. In the temple of mechanics where locomotives were once repaired, the Amazon founder will tell John Elkann —Chairman of Stellantis and Ferrari and CEO of Exor—how he laid the tracks for a new digital economy and electrifying space tourism. Bezos's ideas have unfolded like rails toward uncharted territories, anticipating the future when it was barely perceptible. For this reason, according to the organizers, they perfectly embody the spirit of Italian Tech Week 2025 and its theme, " The Wave Ahead ," which celebrates those who build, dream, and innovate, riding change before it becomes visible.

In the 1990s, while the Internet was still a mystery to many, Bezos left a promising job on Wall Street to pursue an intuition: selling books online. It proved to be a winning move, but it was only the beginning. With Amazon, Bezos built a new consumer architecture. He was the one who introduced the revolutionary “ 1-Click Purchase ” in 1999, allowing users to complete a purchase with a single touch. No shopping carts, no unnecessary steps. Bezos had already grasped what others hadn't: user time had become the new gold. The system was so effective that even Apple purchased a license—for a million dollars—to integrate it into iTunes.

Bezos has built an e-commerce empire that has always aimed higher. In 2000, when space was still a business for governments and astronauts, he founded Blue Origin . Twenty-five years later, its rockets regularly carry civilians beyond the Kármán line, 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Among them are actor William Shatner—the unforgettable Captain Kirk from Star Trek—singer Katy Perry, and journalist Lauren Sanchez, Bezos's longtime partner and now his wife.

And it is precisely from this visionary trajectory, which unites technology, space and commitment to the climate - with the 10 billion dollar Bezos Earth Fund - that the dialogue between the Amazon founder and John Elkann will begin ( Here is the complete program of the event)

The two entrepreneurs had already met in Turin in 2017 to discuss the “future of newspapers” on the occasion of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the daily newspaper La Stampa , of which Elkan was and still is publisher (through the Gedi Group which also publishes Repubblica ).

Bezos, among the many businesses he's launched and acquired, also boasts a newspaper: The Washington Post , which he purchased in 2013 for approximately $250 million. This time, the two entrepreneurs' fireside chat will take place in the heart of the Week, the large Fucine room at OGR, on the morning of Friday, October 3rd. But the conference will extend well beyond the main stage, with numerous panels taking place at Platform 3 and masterclasses that, over the course of three days, will delve into the technologies and strategies transforming businesses and, more generally, the labor market.

As per tradition, much of the program will be free : simply register on the event's official website, italiantechweek.com , to receive a coupon. New this year is the introduction of a "premium" pass that guarantees several benefits, such as fast-track access to the main rooms and access to dedicated networking lounges.

Even those who are unable to travel to Turin or are unable to attend will be able to enjoy the event: the entire event will be streamed live on the Repubblica and Stampa websites.

“This edition will be particularly interesting because we find ourselves in a moment of extraordinary convergence, marked by the 'multiple golden ages' that Bezos often speaks of,” said Diyala D'Aveni , CEO of Vento. “AI is transforming every industry, space is becoming accessible, robotics is making giant strides, and all of this is happening simultaneously.”

This year's wave of innovation also brings female success stories to Turin, examples of leadership that are redefining the global tech landscape. Taking the stage will be figures such as Mette Lykke (Too Good To Go), Dorothy Chou (DeepMind), Luciana Lixandru (Sequoia), Sarah Guo (Conviction), Helene Huby (The Exploration Company), Michela Andreolli (Arke), Alberta Trombetta (JustSolve), and Martina Domenicali (Lexroom). "I hope all of them represent just the beginning of a great change," said D'Aveni.