Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta 2025, the Business Plan Competition that promotes the birth of innovative start-ups in the Piedmont and Aosta Valley territories, officially kicks off. Now in its 21st edition and promoted by the incubators I3P, Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino, and 2i3T, Business Incubator of the University of Turin, the competition is held as part of the Italian National Innovation Award (PNI), Italy's most important event for knowledge-intensive start-ups.
Funded by the Piedmont Region with the resources of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and organized within the framework of the PNI promoted by PNICube, the Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta is structured in two stages.
The stages of the competition
The Stage I is the Ideas Competition, which rewards the best business ideas in free support services provided by business incubators aimed at the drafting of the Business Plan, as well as guidance and consulting services on Smart Mobility issues in Turin, provided as part of the City of Turin's ToMove project. It will also be possible to benefit from the free guidance and accompaniment services provided by experts from Invitalia, Official Partner of the Italian National Innovation Award, for the submission of applications for subsidies on incentives dedicated to business creation.
There is time to participate in Stage I until June 3, 2025, by filling out the application on the official competition website www.startcup-piemonte-vda.it. Teams that submit the best business ideas and pass the selection phase will be contacted directly by the Incubators to initiate consulting services.
Stage II, the actual Business Plan Competition, will kick off on June 4 and end on July 28, 2025, giving access to the final selection and prizes provided in cash and services. To participate, a Business Plan describing an entrepreneurial project must be submitted, also in this case through the website www.startcup-piemonte-vda.it.
One can participate in only one or both stages, free of charge, by submitting a business idea or business project that, regardless of the stage of development, is the work of an individual or a group of individuals, and aimed at creating an innovative start-up.
Who can participate
All aspiring entrepreneurs over the age of 18 from universities and research centers (undergraduate, graduate, PhD or PhD research students, research fellows or fellows, structured professors) and owners of newly started businesses as specified on the Competition Rules are eligible, individually or in groups.
During the online application process, proposers will have to identify a reference incubator, choosing it from the business incubators of the Promoting Entities (I3P - Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino, 2i3T - Business Incubator of the University of Turin, or Pépinières d'Entreprises of Aosta or Pont-Saint-Martin in case of application for the Valle d'Aosta Prize).
To be eligible for the competition, business ideas and projects have to refer to the competition categories:
Life Sciences, for innovative products and/or services to improve people's health;
ICT, i.e., innovative products and/or services in the area of information technology and new media for cybersecurity and cloud computing - e.g., e-commerce, social media, mobile, gaming - and innovative hardware and software technologies - e.g., microelectronics and photonics devices, advanced materials for ICT, new computational architectures, technologies in AI/LLM, imaging;
Cleantech & Energy (innovative products and/or services geared toward improving environmental sustainability, environmental protection, energy management);
Industrial (innovative products and/or services for industrial production that do not fall into the previous categories, innovative from a technology or market perspective);
Tourism and Cultural and Creative Industry (innovative products and/or services aimed at the tourism and cultural and creative industry sector).
New talent for the businesses of the future
Elena Chiorino, vice-president and councillor for Training and Labor of the Piedmont Region, said: “Each project presented at the Start Cup is a concrete step toward the future: the Piedmont Region is focusing on innovation and youth talent as levers for a dynamic and competitive economy. The Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta is a unique opportunity to promote technological progress, with projects that reflect the importance of investing in knowledge and collaboration between universities, institutions and businesses. Supporting this design means stopping the brain drain, creating development and skilled employment, and strengthening the link between research, business and the territory. Let's work to release energies, invest in talents and broaden the range of opportunities to create value: this is what the economic system is asking of politics.”
Andrea Tronzano, Councillor for productive activities of the Piedmont Region, commented: “With the Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta we invest in the talents and ideas that can really make a difference for the future of our territory. Supporting the birth of new businesses with a high innovation content means creating development, skilled employment and added value for the entire Piedmont economic ecosystem. Thanks to the resources of the European Social Fund Plus we accompany young entrepreneurs along a path that starts from the idea and reaches the market, strengthening the link between research, business and the territory.”
The Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta organizing committee, composed of the two Piedmont incubators, stated: “Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta is now an established reference point for regional innovation. Edition after edition, the initiative offers an updated snapshot of local entrepreneurial ferment, highlighting emerging trends and sectors on which it is strategic to focus resources, attention and investment. It is also a valuable moment to activate new connections between universities, research and business, fostering an ecosystem that is increasingly integrated, inclusive and capable of generating impact. The added value of the initiative lies precisely in its ability to stimulate innovation from below, actively involving young entrepreneurs, researchers and territorial realities in a shared growth process. The network of incubators and partners continues to expand, testifying to a system that strongly believes in the culture of innovation as an engine for the economic and social development of the territory.”
The prizes for the best projects
By November, the best start-up projects participating in the Business Plan Competition (Stage II) will be chosen and awarded prizes and special mentions, with the support of a Jury composed of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and business angels. Thanks to the endowment made available by the promoting entities and supporters of the 2025 edition, the total prize pool amounts to over €65,000 and will be disbursed in cash and services offered by various partners.
The three overall winners will receive cash prizes. The first place winner will receive a prize of €7,500, the second of €5,000 and the third of €2,500. The top six projects will also be awarded a prize of €1,000 each for entry into the 2025 edition of PNI, the Italian National Innovation Prize, the “champions cup” among the winning business projects of the regional Start Cups, which this year will be held in Ferrara at Ferrara Expo on Thursday, December 4 and Friday, December 5, 2025. The event will be jointly organized by PNICube and the University of Ferrara, as part of ECOSISTER - Territorial Ecosystem of Innovation of Emilia-Romagna, funded by PNRR.
Thanks to the many sponsors and partners interested in contributing concretely to the development of innovation, Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta also includes a series of special prizes:
Fondazione CRC, attentive to interventions aimed at competitiveness and sustainable development, will award the Fondazione CRC Prize of €10,000 to the best business project that establishes enterprise in the Province of Cuneo;
the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta, aimed at entrepreneurial development in the Aosta Valley territory, will award the Valle d'Aosta Prize of €7,500 to the best business project that sets up the company in the Pépinière d'Entreprises of Aosta or Pont-Saint-Martin;
Distretto Aerospaziale Piemonte (Piedmont Aerospace Cluster), an association whose goal is to strengthen the aerospace sector-working with all players in the industry and also through the creation of projects to spread innovation-will award the Sustainability In Aerospace Prize worth €7,500 to the best project that considers the theme of sustainability in aeronautics and space;
Fondazione Laura & Franco Beltramo ETS, an entity interested in contributing concretely to the emergence and development of new innovative entrepreneurship, will offer two Social Innovation Awards totaling €7,500 for two best entrepreneurial projects in the fields of medicine, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agriculture and food needs that promote social progress and the development of better living conditions;
LINKS Foundation, a research center interested in fostering technological and economic growth, increasing ecosystem competitiveness and enhancing intellectual property, will give away the City of the Future and Sustainability Award, worth a total of €7,500 in the form of spendable credit in technical services provided by LINKS staff, to up to two of the best projects proposing innovative products and/or services based on sustainability-related technologies;
Jacobacci & Partners, a leading company in Italy and one of the main European companies in the field of intellectual property protection, will award two prizes with a total value of €7,000 to the two best entrepreneurial projects with intellectual property characteristics, paid in the form of credit that can be spent on consultancy services in the field of trademark, model and patent protection;
UniCredit, interested in supporting innovative start-ups in the phases of their business life with specific actions, sponsors the the UniCredit Start Lab Prize, which consists of a mentorship session to evaluate the suitability of a project to be admitted to targeted contents of the Start Lab program;
the ToMove project of the City of Turin sponsors three “Future Mobility” awards in services, intended for as many entrepreneurial projects on the theme of smart and sustainable urban mobility.
Five special mentions will also be awarded:
“Women Entrepreneurship”, for the best female-led business Project with a majority female team (over 50%).
“Social Innovation”, for the best project proposing innovative solutions in one of the fields provided by article 2, paragraph 1 of the Italian Legislative Decree 155/2006 on social enterprise.
“Open Innovation / Spin Off Industriali”, for the best project concerning innovative products and/or services deriving from a joint research activity between a company and a Piedmont University.
“Climate Change”, for the best business project regarding climate change, capable of integrating innovation, technology, protection, and enhancement of natural resources in order to create economic growth and environmental protection.
“Sustainable Technologies”, for the project which stands out the most by its originality, intended as either related to the trademarks’ field or the technology, awarded by Jacobacci & Partners.
