The Acceleratore d'Impresa del Politecnico di Milano, run by the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, is a university business incubator unit that supports the development of innovation in business and offers start-ups the infrastructures and services they need to grow. It was founded in 2000, when the Politecnico di Milano (one of the first in Italy) saw that there was a need for a unit that could host and foster high-technology start-up businesses, capable of transforming the results of scientific research into industrial applications. 

In 2007 the Politecnico di Milano turned over management of the Acceleratore d'Impresa to the Fondazione, so that the Fondazione could become part of a network of entrepreneurs, financiers, business angels and industrial associations to support the development of incubated start-ups, and encourage the creation of new, high-potential companies. In July 2008 the Acceleratore d'Impresa decided to open a new incubator unit especially for Clean Technologies, to offer support for business ideas that promise to introduce significant innovations to tackle energy and environmental problems. Since January 2009 the Acceleratore d'Impresa has also been part of the project, coordinated by the City of Milan, called "Milano Crea Impresa - La rete degli Incubatori della Città di Milano" (Milan Creates Enterprise - The Network of Incubators in the City of Milan), set up to support the development of incubators and business growth in high-technology sectors.

Today the Acceleratore d'Impresa has three sites (Milano, Como and Lecco), and 18 incubated companies operating in the following sectors: 

• ICT
• Bioingegneria
• Clean technologies
• Design and Innovation

The Acceleratore d'Impresa organises conferences and dissemination activities aimed at students, postgraduate students, graduates, researchers at the Politecnico di Milano and the general public, to promote and stimulate the culture of enterprise.

The Acceleratore d'Impresa performs the following activities:

• scouting inside and outside the Politecnico to search for business ideas
• consulting for creating enterprise and assisting with the drawing-up of business plans for incubation
• training activities for those who intend to start up businesses based on developing new technologies and for new business owners hosted at the Acceleratore d'Impresa
• defining strategies for business development and for approaching the market
• creating a network of Business Angels, Venture Capitalists, industrial investors and other investors
• involving managers and professionals in the tutoring of new business owners
• assisting with internationalisation