The History of Triadi

To understand the horizon of Triadi it is necessary to know the genesis of the Tiresia research group of the Department of Management of the Politecnico di Milano. It is 2015, the year following the establishment, under the British Presidency of the G7, of the Social Impact Investment Task Force, an experience that would originate the global movement GSG For Impact Investing led by Sir Ronald Cohen, and that outlined the change that would contaminate market models and organizations and public policies in the following ten years, bringing to the center the inseparability of environmental and social sustainability from economic growth.

Mario Calderini, full professor of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano, member of the Task Force as a representative of the Italian Government, proposes to the then Rector Giovanni Azzone the formation of an initial nucleus of academics, including Professor Irene Bengo, dedicated to investigating these issues that in the prevailing debate completely lacked visibility and attention.

Tiresia is born, the research group for impact, innovation, entrepreneurship and finance, inspired by the figure of the Greek mythology of Tiresias, a seer, who, although blind, knew how to decipher the signs of the past and present to anticipate the trajectories of the future. Thus, to look far with the lens of scientific analysis, a first small group begins to work on the measurement of social impact as a cornerstone of the development of public policies, investments, business models oriented towards social impact, and monitoring of the value actually generated. In a few years, Tiresia evolves into a working group of over thirty researchers engaged in the analysis and modeling of all the principles and methods that govern an integrated impact strategy in organizations. Based on an open innovation approach, Tiresia is open from the beginning to collaborations with the professional world, institutions and businesses and this lays the foundation for the birth of Triadi. In 2022, Tiresia’s research mission finds further impetus in the urgency of translating content, methodologies, scientific rigor and multidisciplinarity into a strategic support project aimed at public, private, financial and third sector organizations oriented towards impact.

A spin-off of the Politecnico di Milano, a benefit company, Triadi was founded with this purpose and with a strong technological vocation focused on the intensive use of data. The result of the meeting of academics, professionals and experts in the legal, financial, marketing and communication fields, it works in favor of companies, financial entities, public and private entities, third sector, for projects of social and environmental impact assessment, the development of financial instruments, the definition of impact strategies, the construction of hybrid business models oriented to intentionally pursue objectives of social and environmental value alongside economic return.