From Monday, May 25, to Sunday, May 31, 2026, the Italian city of Turin will host Future Week Torino, the second edition of the event format by SCAI Comunicazione, already tested in Rome and coming to other Italian cities. A week of widespread events will bring together Turin’s innovative realities through an open program of meetings, workshops, talks, and experiences designed to explore how the future is taking shape.
As part of this program, SharingIdea and PwC Italy, in collaboration with the Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino (I3P), have launched the initiative “Building solutions for the future of cities”. The event, taking place on Tuesday, May 26, is divided into two parts - a panel discussion and a hackathon - but with a single goal: to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and foster the development of concrete solutions to the region’s strategic challenges.
The entire event will take place in person at EDIT Space, located at Piazza Teresa Noce 15 in Turin. In the morning, there will be an institutional panel discussion on the future of cities, featuring representatives from the public government and the private sector, followed in the afternoon by a hackathon focused on the overarching theme of Smart Cities.
The hackathon for the future of cities
The initiative, which falls under the scope of open innovation, aims to connect companies, start-ups, innovative SMEs, university spin-offs, and research teams to develop high-impact solutions for the Turin and Piedmont territories, in line with Regione Piemonte’s Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) and the main priorities of the City of Turin.
The first thematic area of the hackathon is titled “Smart City Living” and includes citizen-focused solutions aimed at making the city more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient, while improving quality of life through new urban services, innovative mobility models, and smart infrastructure, such as:
- smart mobility: solutions to improve urban mobility and accessibility through intermodal models and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), urban logistics and last-mile delivery, intelligent traffic flow management, road safety, and services for inclusive mobility;
- energy and urban regeneration: solutions to support the energy transition of cities and the sustainable redevelopment of urban infrastructure;
- urban health and well-being: solutions to improve citizens’ health, safety, and quality of life through innovative technologies and services.
The second thematic area, "Smart City Enablers", focuses on the technologies and models that drive innovation in urban and industrial settings. Three examples of related topics:
- AI & data: solutions based on artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics to support strategic and operational decision-making;
- Internet of Things (IoT) and smart infrastructure: solutions based on advanced sensor technology, connectivity, and digital infrastructure to intelligently monitor and manage urban and industrial assets;
- Industry 4.0 & smart manufacturing: technologies and solutions to support the digital transformation of production processes and the shift toward more sustainable and efficient industrial models.
The hackathon will begin with a kick-off and challenge-framing session with partner companies, aimed at clarifying the challenges’ objectives, constraints, and success criteria; work teams may be formed or reconfigured to ensure a mix of multidisciplinary skills. Throughout the afternoon, the groups will work on developing an output - such as prototypes, mockups, proofs of concept, implementation plans, or business cases - with the support of mentors and representatives from the partner companies.
At the end of the hackathon, each team will present its work during a pitch session lasting approximately 10 minutes: the projects will be reviewed by the evaluation committee, which will select the best ones for the subsequent final awards ceremony. Among the opportunities offered by the initiative are access to Proof of Concept (PoC) development with partner companies, mentoring and acceleration services for the most promising projects, building relationships with local stakeholders, and validating solutions in real-world scenarios.
How to apply for the Call4Ideas
The hackathon’s Call4Ideas, which is the phase for collecting applications to participate in the initiative, is open to innovative start-ups and scaleups, high-tech SMEs, academic spin-offs, university research teams, innovators, and emerging companies. Participation, whether as individuals or as teams, is limited to adults.
Applications to participate in the challenge will be accepted until Friday, May 15, 2026: to apply, one has to fill out the online form available on the initiative’s website. PwC Italia, SharingIdea, I3P, and partner companies will evaluate the proposals received and select 10–15 teams, who will receive an official invitation to the hackathon by May 19.
Prospective participants can respond to the call by submitting a description of the solution they plan to propose and develop during the hackathon, specifying - where possible - the technologies used, the solution’s technology readiness level (TRL), and the members of their project team. It is strongly recommended to attach a pitch deck or other relevant materials in PDF format to facilitate evaluation: recommended additions include links to demo videos, graphic mockups, software screenshots, architectural diagrams, development roadmaps, and references to any existing PoCs or clients. The complete rules of the initiative are available online.
