The Italian Master Startup Award – IMSA 2025 will take place on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. in Turin, at the Agorà Hall of I3P, the Innovative Enterprise Incubator of the Polytechnic University of Turin.

The IMSA 2025 Award is organized by PNICube, the largest and most widespread national network of university incubators and Start Cup competitions, together with I3P, a certified incubator that, since 1999, has supported more than 375 startups in developing their businesses. The event is part of Italian Tech Week, the leading Italian tech conference organized by Vento – the Italian chapter of the Exor Ventures investment fund – in editorial collaboration with the GEDI Group, and is supported by the Piedmont Region through the resources of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

Now in its 19th edition, the IMSA Award brings together young innovative startups with strong technological intensity and growth potential, founded by talented young university researchers and public research institutions within the PNICube network. They will compete for the title, awarded on the basis of significant economic and qualitative achievements, across four sectors: Cleantech & Energy, ICT, Industrial, and Life Sciences – MedTech. The first prize amounts to €10,000, co-financed by PNICube and I3P.

The final event of IMSA 2025 therefore provides an ideal platform to exchange ideas and concrete proposals on how to foster innovation and entrepreneurship as a means of advancing sustainability. In particular, discussions will focus on innovation ecosystems, including those supported by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), and their future development trajectories.

How to partecipate

The IMSA 2025 Award will take place on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, from 2:00 p.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m., in person at the Agorà Hall of the I3P Incubator, located within the Campus of the Polytechnic University of Turin, accessible from the pedestrian entrances at Corso Castelfidardo 34 and Via Borsellino 53/N.

Participation in the event is free of charge, subject to registration on Eventbrite.

Program

2:00 p.m. | Welcome and participant registration

2:15 p.m. | Institutional greetings

• Paola Paniccia, President of PNICube

• Giuseppe Scellato, President of I3P

2:30 p.m. | Pitches by the finalist startups

3:30 p.m. | Panel discussion: “Innovation Ecosystems, Research-based Startups, and Growth”

4:30 p.m. | IMSA 2025 Award Ceremony

5:00 p.m. | Closing remarks