UNITA Challenge Arena @Torino
The European final of the UNITA local challenges
On 9 October 2026, Turin hosts the UNITA Challenge Arena @Torino, the final competition bringing together the winning teams from the local challenges organised by the universities of the UNITA Alliance.
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 representing universities across the Alliance will meet in Turin to present their solutions before an international Jury.
The Challenge Arena is also part of the side-event programme of Wave by Vento, formerly Italian Tech Week, taking place in Turin from 7 to 9 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 have the opportunity to continue its international journey by taking part in the Italian Pavilion programme at Slush 2026, taking place in Helsinki on 18–19 November 2026.
Programme
14:00–14:30 | Registration
14:30–14:50 | Opening and introduction
Welcome, introduction to the UNITA Challenge Arena, presentation of the Jury and competition rules.
14:50–16:00 | First pitch session – 5 teams
Each team will have 5 minutes to pitch, followed by 8 minutes of Q&A with the Jury and 1 minute for changeover.
16:00–16:15 | Break
16:15–17:25 | Second pitch session – 5 teams
The competition continues with the remaining five finalist teams.
17:25–17:45 | Jury deliberation
Final evaluation and ranking.
17:45–18:00 | Winner announcement and award ceremony
Announcement of the winning team and award ceremony, followed by a networking aperitivo
Finalist teams
Nine teams representing UNITA universities across Europe will compete in the final:
- Bala — Universidad de Zaragoza (UNIZAR), Spain
- BioInnovators — Universidade Politécnica 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
- Ruota Libera — University of Turin (UniTo), Italy
- smetytech — Transilvania University of Brașov (UniTBv), Romania
- SynapTrace — Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI), Portugal
