Start Cup Padua 2026: the winning projects heading to the national final

The award ceremony for Start Cup Padova 2026 was held yesterday, Thursday 1 October, in sala dei Giganti in Padua. The competition, funded and organised by the University of Padua, is for people developing innovative entrepreneurial ideas and will take the winner of the Padua round to the national final of the “Premio Nazionale per l’Innovazione - PNI 2026”, scheduled in Bari on 3 and 4 December. 

The Start Cup Padova Award aims to stimulate research and technological innovation to support the economic development of the area, turning participants’ ideas into reality and enabling them to tackle the start-up phase of a new business effectively. So it is not only financial support, but also training and consultancy on the most important aspects of business management.

“This year Start Cup Padova celebrates its 25th edition: a milestone that tells a story of research, innovation and people who had the courage to turn an intuition into a project and put it to the test. The figures for these twenty-five years show the scale of the journey completed: 5,064 business plans, 1,778 groups, 85 spin-offs and start-ups, and 7 mentions at the Premio Nazionale per l’Innovazione. Behind each of these numbers there are skills, encounters, attempts, and personal and professional choices. There are people who accepted the challenge of taking their ideas beyond laboratories and lecture halls, engaging with concrete needs and new development opportunities,” said Monica Fedeli, Vice-Rector for Third Mission and Relations with the Territory at the University of Padua, when presenting the competition. 

The winning teams

First place - 6000 euros from IntesaSanpaolo - Team ALPI, which presented a project for off-grid solar cold rooms with ice-based thermal storage and intelligent control to make the food cold chain more accessible. ALPI is made up of Gianluca Slaviero, CEO – product, modelling, testing and management; Tiago Placido Da Ross, CTO – development, industrialisation and operations; Simone Mancin, Advisor and Business Development – research, intellectual property, European projects and commercial development, lecturer in Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering in Padua. The team was awarded by Monica Fedeli, Vice-Rector for Third Mission and Relations with the Territory, and Sandro Reverenna, Innovation Specialist - Regional Directorate Veneto Ovest and Trentino AA, Intesa Sanpaolo.

Second place - 5000 euros awarded by the University of Padua - Team MYNERVA, which proposed Mynerva, a digital agent that integrates intraoperative data to support care, forecasting, research and clinical innovation in Neurosurgery. MYNERVA is made up of Alessandro Boaro, CEO and CSO – scientific leadership and coordination, Tenure Track Researcher at the University of Verona; Alberto Feletti, CMO and CRO – medical and regulatory leadership, lecturer in Neurosurgery at the University of Verona; Filippo Bittante, CFO – financial strategy and fundraising; Matteo Denitto, CTO – technological development and machine learning.

Joint third place - 2000 euros for each project awarded by the University of Padua - Team RHYTAEN and Team TAUER.

Team RHYTAEN proposed an automated generative design for high-performance 3D fluidic architectures. Team RHYTAEN includes Samuele Nizzardo, lead founder – technological and software development; Alberto Benato, co-founder – energy and hydraulic systems and lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering in Padua; Enrico Vecchiato, co-founder – commercial development and the hydraulic market; Giorgia Franchin, co-founder – materials and additive manufacturing and lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering in Padua; Giovanna Cavazzini, co-founder – fluid machinery, hydroelectricity and industrial partnerships, lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering in Padua

Team TAUER developed a project that simulates the energy performance of buildings and assesses the cost-effectiveness of refurbishments in just a few minutes, without experts. Team TAUER is made up of Jacopo Vivian, Chair of the Board – strategy, scientific coordination and general management; Enrico Prataviera, technical manager and author of the EUReCA simulation engine; Michele De Carli, lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering in Padua; Airaj Sadeq, platform developer; Filippo Piovanello, administrative support and commercial development.

Team ALPI, Team MYNERVA, Team TAUER and Team RHYTAEN will go to the national final of the “Premio Nazionale per l’Innovazione - PNI 2026”, scheduled in Bari on 3 and 4 December.

Special mentions

Social Innovation: best social innovation project - 2000 euros from Camera di Commercio di Padova (cciaa padova, Padova Looking and Venicepromex) - to team OPTIMEASE, made up of David Petrovic, founder and developer, a graduate in Computer Engineering and PhD student in Information Engineering in Padua; Gian Antonio Susto, founder and scientific AI/ML advisor and lecturer in the Department of Information Engineering in Padua and co-founder of Statwolf Data Science, who proposed an intelligent platform for organising staff, skills and preferences in Italian healthcare facilities.

Female Entrepreneurship: best women-led business project with a majority-female team - 2000 euros from Camera di Commercio di Padova (cciaa padova, Padova Looking and Venicepromex) - to team AURA, made up of Amina Benkhadir, CEO and Clinical Leader; Stefano Cappon, CCO and Head of Business Development; Giulia Cerato, CPO and Head of Design, who developed a bio-mimetic device for assisted breastfeeding of vulnerable newborns that ensures controlled nutrition, pure contact and breast stimulation.

Team AURA will take part in the national final of the “Premio Nazionale per l’Innovazione - PNI 2026”, scheduled in Bari on 3 and 4 December.

Climate Change: best business project with an impact on climate change, capable of integrating innovation, technology, protection and enhancement of natural resources in order to generate economic growth and environmental protection - 2000 euros from Almaviva Bluebit - to team PURIFAS, made up of Leslie Castillo, co-founder and CEO; Daniel Oldani, co-founder and CTO; Eleonora Musoni Zanon, co-founder, Product Owner and Stakeholders Manager; Silvia Tanzi, Legal Manager; Marco Gaggiato Merotti, Finance Manager, with a project to detect PFAS in water using a portable sensor and data management and analysis software: rapid, in situ and user-friendly.

Other additional awards

Young Entrepreneurship Award - 2000 euros awarded by Camera di Commercio di Padova (cciaa padova, Padova Looking and Venicepromex) - to Team ORBEET, made up of Riccardo Peghin, CEO strategy, partnerships and institutional relations; Silvia Boretti, CFO financial planning, control and public calls; Enrico Moro, CTO software, cloud and machine learning development; Francesca Zoppini, Lead Data Analyst satellite analysis and model validation; Matteo Bacco, CMO commercial development, communication and relations with operators, which uses satellite data and AI to assess the quality of bee habitats and support farmers, beekeepers and public institutions

Le Village by CA Triveneto Award, consisting of one year of acceleration in the spaces of Le Village, to Team TAUER, made up of Jacopo Vivian, Chair of the Board – strategy, scientific coordination and general management; Enrico Prataviera, technical manager and author of the EUReCA simulation engine; Michele De Carli, lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering in Padua; Airaj Sadeq, platform developer; Filippo Piovanello, administrative support and commercial development, which developed a project that simulates the energy performance of buildings and assesses the cost-effectiveness of refurbishments in just a few minutes, without experts.