See how Entrepreneurship and Innovation take shape
Also this year Start-Up Lab has reached the end of its eighth edition. Let's start from the beginning: what is Start-Up Lab? It's a laboratory course promoted and offered by the University of Trento, which has entrusted the organization and management to CLab Trento.
The students who populate this course have a highly heterogeneous origin both by area of study, for their academic level (masters students, PhD and post-doc), and for nationalities (28 were represented). 130 students created a symphonic synergy in the development of innovative business projects; stimulated and guided by coaches, mentors and experts in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship. The students, divided into teams, participated in weekly lessons that aimed to stimulate their entrepreneurial mindset, while at the same time opening their minds to the sides of innovation that support any start-up.
During the quarantine, CLab Trento did not hold back. We saw an opportunity in the difficulty that hit the globe, deciding to carry out the laboratory completely digitally: 48 hours of laboratory sessions managed by Professor Alessandro Rossi (CLab Chief), Professor Vittorino Filippas (CLab Manager) and Gloria Cannone (Facilitator). To support them, an army of mentors from the local business reality or innovative start-ups: Daniele Miorandi (Chief Executive Officer at U-Hopper srl), Lorenzo Sanna (International Business Development at EIT DIGITAL), Daniele Dalledonne (Co-Founder of Machineria), Cveta Majtanovic (Strategic Marketing & Business Developer), Clelia Calabrò (Startup and Innovation Manager at Bluelion Incubator), Daniele Basso (Founder & CEO at HBI), Lorenzo Modena (OpenMove CEO and Co-Funder), Carlo Pasquini (Founder & CEO at SkipassGo), Leonardo Benuzzi (Innovation Manager), Stefano Remondino (Open Innovation Services at Industrio Ventures - startup accelerator), Giovanni Gaglione (CTO at Wonderflow), Nadya Bobova (CO-Founder of KMB Lab), Arianna Conci (Junior Project Manager at HIT).
In addition to them, the course had the support of some Alumni, students who were contaminated by Start-Up Lab: Jasmine Cattai Paladin, Luca Coviello, Davide Bulbarelli, Gabriele Franch, Elisa Guardabasso, Alessandro Tomasi.
Throughout this journey, amazing guests such as Alfredo Maglione (Confindustria Trento), Nicola Doppio (Innovation Officer at HIT), Paolo Lombardi (Senior product and Program manager at Independent Consultant), Teresa Macchia (Design Researcher at Konica Minolta), Edoardo Guerrieri ( Investment Team at GELLIFY), Massimo Zancanaro (professor at the University of Trento and Head of Research at the Bruno Kesler Foundation) made their contribution to Start-Up Lab, going deep into specific topics such as Design Thinking, the B2B Business Model, lean validation and everything related to soft skills.
This journey ended with our Demo Day: a competition where the finalist teams expose their projects to an exceptional jury in just 4 minutes. This year, we decided to do things big; bringing names such as Sara Roversi (Social Mission Founder of the Future Food Institute), Roberto Napoli (University of Trento), Luciano De Propris (Open Innovation at the ELIS consortium ), Susanna Zuccarini (senior business and analyst at Invitalia), Andrea Bolner (business angel and StartUp advisor), Christian Giacom (incubation and startup area at Trentino Sviluppo) and an outstanding keynote speaker: Jari Ognibeni (founder of Parite Partners).
But, how did the Demo Day take place?
During this edition, we wanted to engage as many people as possible through Youtube Live; giving everyone the opportunity to watch, appreciate and evaluate the projects of the finalist teams of Start-Up Lab.
The finalist teams presented their idea with a 4-minute video, in front of a digital audience of 1000 people. Everyone was thrilled to watch which innovative idea could win Start-Up Lab 2020 podium. Throughout the afternoon of May 28th, the judges were able to observe, interact and vote the team's projects.
But we wanted to do more. We wanted to show you how, in reality, all the ideas developed by the teams were valid. So from 6 pm on DemoDay, anyone with a Facebook profile could watch the video presentation of the project, interact with the team, and vote for their favourite: the People's Choice Award!
The fears that something could go wrong, or to not be able to meet expectations or to involve people always, were thoughts that gripped the CLab Trento team. Fortunately, all doubts vanished as soon as we perceived the smiles of everyone who looked at us.
The pandemic has changed something but not yours and our energy, nor the passion to get involved. Innovation is the engine of the laboratory, our CLabbers are energy.
Watch our Live Demo Day!