UNITA Challenge Arena @Torino: the European final of the UNITA local challenges
On 9th October 2026, Turin will host the UNITA Challenge Arena @Torino, the final competition bringing together the winning teams from the local challenges organised by the universities of the UNITA – Universitas Montium European University Alliance. The event will take place from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., at CTE NEXT – Casa delle Tecnologie Emergenti di Torino, Corso Unione Sovietica 216 - Torino. Registration will open at 2:00 p.m.
The event is organised by the University of Turin, coordinator of the UNITA Alliance, under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and ICE – Italian Trade Agency.
During the first half of 2026, UNITA partner universities developed local challenges involving students and/or researchers, in collaboration with their respective innovation ecosystems. Each university designed its initiative around topics, needs and areas of expertise linked to its local context and participating partners.
The UNITA Challenge Arena marks the final stage of this journey: nine finalist teams from the Alliance universities will meet in Turin to present their solutions to an international panel.
The Challenge Arena is also part of the side-event programme of Wave by Vento, formerly Italian Tech Week, taking place in Turin from 7th to 9th October 2026 and bringing together startups, investors, companies and leading voices from the innovation ecosystem.
Through the Challenge Arena, UNITA aims to promote challenge-based learning as a way to connect education, research, entrepreneurship and real-world needs, while fostering collaboration among university communities and innovation ecosystems across Europe.
The winning team will have the opportunity to continue its international journey by taking part in the Italian Pavilion programme at Slush 2026, taking place in Helsinki on 18th–19th November 2026.
Nine teams representing UNITA universities across Europe will compete in the final:
- Bala - Universidad de Zaragoza (UNIZAR), Spain
- BioInnovators - Instituto Politécnico da Guarda (IPG), Portugal
- Ecowave - University of Turin (UniTo), Italy
- IngeCER - Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Spain
- n-Homade - Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (UPPA), France
- Pink Coders - West University of Timișoara (UVT), Romania
- smetytech. - Transilvania University of Brașov (UniTBv), Romania
- SynapTrace - Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI), Portugal
- UCD Tools - University of Turin (UniTo), Italy
- Benoit Buntinx – Director of New Business Creation, EIT Food & Managing Director, AgriFoodInvest
- Elena Deambrogio – Head of Smart City, Innovation and EC Projects Unit, City of Turin & CTE NEXT Programme Manager
- Pete Karumo – Program Lead & Mentor-in-Residence, Helsinki Incubators, University of Helsinki
- Alessandra Scotti – Institutional Relations & Scouting Manager, LIFTT
- Sergio Strozzi – Head of Innovation, Technology and Startups, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The competition will conclude with the announcement of the winning team and the final award ceremony.
Attendance in person is free of charge, with limited seats available.
Registration is required via the Wave by Vento side event link.
The event will also be livestreamed on the UNITA YouTube channel.