Europe’s coworking veteran and regional giant Toolbox, from Turin, celebrates its 15th anniversary
Turin’s first and largest coworking space, Toolbox Coworking, marked its 15th anniversary. Located in a renovated early 20th-century foundry near the Mauriziano Hospital and the Dante Metro stop, Toolbox has grown into a central hub for innovation, creativity, and collaboration in northern Italy.
Founded in 2010 by Aurelio Balestra, Toolbox was created with the vision of transforming post-industrial space into a fertile ground for new ways of working. Today, it spans 10,000 m2 and is home to hundreds of freelancers and 50 companies and startups.
One of Toolbox’s most renowned tenants is Arduino, the globally influential open-source electronics platform that revolutionized prototyping in education, hobbyist, and professional circles.
Beyond offering desks and offices, Toolbox has become a vital ecosystem for experimentation and learning, reminds this article, thanks to dozens local partnerships and collaborations with key players around the Piemont region.
Toolbox hosts more than 300 events and workshops annually. Toolbox also houses the first FabLab in Italy, an innovation space that has helped popularize maker culture across industries and educational institutions. In addition, Print Club Torino, the city’s graphic design hub and the organization behind the Graphic Days festival, also calls Toolbox home, reinforcing its status as a creative landmark in the visual arts.
In addition, the space has become a second home to academic research: research groups from two departments of the Polytechnic University of Turin are based on-site, along with eight multidisciplinary student teams developing projects ranging from hydrogen-powered vehicles to self-sufficient lunar habitats.
The coworking space has maintained a strong social mission throughout its growth. It supports non-profit organizations such as Hackability, which develops tech-driven solutions for people with disabilities, and Tutticonnessi, an initiative launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to refurbish and donate digital devices to under-resourced families.
Since its founding, Toolbox has been a dedicated supporter of Coworking Europe since the event’s launch in 2010, playing a key role in shaping the conversation on the future of work across the continent.
Pic source: Stefano Borghi, Toolbox website
