The 2025 edition of the national call for proposals for the development of video games for Bologna Game Farm, the public accelerator for the video game sector conceived and coordinated by the Municipality of Bologna and supported by the Emilia-Romagna Region, has begun. This year, it was implemented as part of MIMIT’s national Casa delle Tecnologie emergenti (CTE) project, thanks to resources made available to beneficiaries by the Metropolitan City of Bologna.
The new tender provides for non-repayable expense reimbursements of up to 25,000 euros each for the development of video games (oriented towards both the B2B and B2C markets) aimed at enhancing Italy’s cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, for a total budget of approximately one hundred and fifty thousand euros, and will select a maximum number of 6 beneficiaries among businesses and freelancers active in the field of video games throughout the country.
“The partnership between Bologna Game Farm and the CTE of the Municipality of Bologna is renewed after the positive experience of 2024, opening up to important collaborations with the other national houses of Pesaro and Matera – declares Rosa Grimaldi, delegate to the ICCs for Bologna and the Metropolitan City – Bologna confirms itself as the leading territory at the national level on gaming issues, and the focus on cultural heritage constitutes a very promising innovation also with a view to valorizing the peculiarities of the Italian territory”
In addition to the contribution, as with previous editions, a support and mentoring program will be provided, developed in collaboration with IIDEA, the trade association of the video game industry in Italy. The headquarters of the BGF accelerator will always be the evocative space of ART-ER’s Serre in the Margherita Gardens in Bologna, dedicated to innovative startups and hubs of the regional ecosystem supporting business creation.
The 2025 edition will increase support for the selected projects through specific initiatives by the three Emerging Technology Houses, focusing on video games oriented towards both the B2B and B2C markets, but aimed at enhancing Italy’s cultural heritage. In fact, the video game medium, thanks to its strong characteristics of involvement and interaction with the player, represents an effective vehicle for disseminating cultural heritage to a wide audience through the sharing of specific content such as literary, musical, cinematic, artistic and performance works. The BGF@CTECOBO 2025 call for proposals is a national pilot project born from the experience of the previous four editions of Bologna Game Farm. It involves the grouping of various Emerging Technology Houses –specifically, the CTEs of Bologna, Matera, and Pesaro– to support the creation of a new entrepreneurship with a strong innovative impact with the support of MIMIT.
In particular, for the 2025 edition, the CTE Matera, through the Municipality of Matera, will ensure visibility and support for selected businesses and freelancers, supporting IIDEA on a stage of the acceleration process at CTE Matera, and will provide surveys of architecturally significant sites carried out with drones and laser scans (rock churches and monumental sites) as a scenic object for the development of playable demos. The CTE Square Pesaro, an initiative of the partner Municipality of Pesaro, will guarantee beneficiaries the opportunity to participate in the Festival of Games Applied to Social Innovation and Cultural Promotion organized by the Municipality, offering the opportunity to present their video games as part of the festival, in alignment with the Bologna Game Farm program.
Bologna Game Farm is the project for the development of video game prototypes and plans for the development and marketing of the product promoted by the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Municipality of Bologna. Bologna Game Farm is coordinated by the Municipality of Bologna and implemented with ART-ER as part of the support actions for the cultural and creative industries, in collaboration with IncredBOL! and with the technical support of IIDEA – Italian Interactive & Digital Entertainment Association. Bologna Game’s goals are to grow new professionals and develop video game products in Emilia-Romagna and nationally, as well as to confirm the sector’s importance as a cultural factor and an element of economic growth in the regional and national production system. Bologna Game Farm@CTE COBO 2025 promotes the relationship between the video game sector, other production sectors across the country, and players in the innovation ecosystem.
The application must be completed and sent no later than April 14, 2025.
The websites to access the call:
www.bolognagamefarm.com e www.ctecobo.it
For more information write to:
info@bolognagamefarm.com
bandictecobo@cittametropolitana.bo.it
To learn more
CTE COBO
Casa delle Tecnologie Emergenti del Comune di Bologna – CTE COBO (www.ctecobo.it) is the widespread technology transfer centre led by the Municipality of Bologna with a total budget of almost 20 million euros, partly financed by FSC 2014-2020 funds from MiMiT and included in the Bologna Innovation Square (BIS) innovation platform to support research and experimentation projects, support the creation of startups, foster technology transfer to small and medium-sized enterprises thanks to new emerging technologies such as Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, quantum technologies, enabled by the use of 5 G.
The following are partners of CTE COBO: Metropolitan City of Bologna, Municipality of Ravenna, Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, Almacube, ART-ER, Port System Authority of the Northern Central Adriatic Sea, BI-REX Big data & research excellence, Cineca, CNIT – WiLab, Creative Hub Bologna, G-Factor, Gellify, Search On Media Group, START 4.0 – Competence Center for Security and Optimization of Strategic Infrastructure, TIM.
Bologna Innovation Square (BIS)
Bologna Innovation Square (BIS – https://www.bolognainnovationsquare.it/) is an open space for discussion, collaboration, and shared planning between businesses, institutions, and innovation organizations in the metropolitan area. It is the innovation platform of Greater Bologna, an operational tool that arises from the Joint Office for Economic Development, Business, and Employment with the aim of facilitating and promoting synergies capable of consolidating and strengthening innovation in the metropolitan economic system. BIS is also in the area with various widespread locations where it carries out its activities, to create real connections with the different facets of the system.
BIS operates in four thematic strands (the pillars): Impact of the Technopole and digitalization, Innovation for the ecological transition, Talent attraction, New entrepreneurship.