Business Ideas and My first pitch 2025
USI Startup Centre
Date: 27 November 2025 / 17:30 - 20:00
Foyer Aula Polivalente, Sector A, East Campus, via la Santa 1, Lugano-Viganello
Business Ideas & My First Pitch Competition is a motivational event on entrepreneurship, designed for students and university researchers. It is jointly organised by USI and SUPSI as part of the federal Innosuisse Entrepreneurship Training programme.
The event is structured in two parts:
1. Business Ideas – From Thesis to a Funded BRIDGE Proof of Concept Project: Turning an Idea into a Startup
Participants will have the opportunity to hear the inspiring stories of Marta Piatti and Matteo Dell’Agostino, SUPSI alumni who transformed their ideas into a Master’s thesis and were later awarded funding through the BRIDGE Proof of Concept programme to transform their research into a startup.
2. "My First Pitch" Competition
Do you have an innovative idea you’d like to turn into a startup? Describe it in the application form!
The top 8 ideas will be invited to present their projects live in a pitch format in front of a jury (3-minute pitch, ITA/ENG, any materials allowed – slides, videos, etc.).
Winners will get tickets to START Summit 2026 — Switzerland’s leading startup event (worth CHF 150 each) — a unique chance to boost your entrepreneurial journey!
Programme
17:30 – Welcome
• Francesco Meli, Entrepreneurship education programme manager, USI Startup Centre
• Leandro Bitetti, Head of MSc in Business Administration with Major in Innovation Management, SUPSI-DEASS
17:40 – From thesis to a Funded BRIDGE Proof of Concept Project: turning an idea into a startup
• Marta Piatti, Scientific Collaborator, NOVA Project – Institute of Design, Research and Innovation
• Matteo Dell’Agostino, Scientific Collaborator, NOVA Project – Institute of Design, Research and Innovation
18:10 – "My First Pitch" Competition
19:20 – Innosuisse Entrepreneurship training programme & other programmes presentation
19:40 – "My First Pitch" Award Ceremony
20:00 – Apéro & Networking
Registration is mandatory (even if you are not presenting): https://www.events-startup.usi.ch/business-ideas-my-first-pitch
