Where do you start to turn an idea into a successful business? What steps does one need to take to found an innovative start-up? How does one put together a team capable of tackling the challenge of a technology-based business project? These are some of the main questions asked by those entering the world of innovative entrepreneurship for the first time, and they will be answered by the Incubator of Politecnico di Torino (I3P) in the fourth edition of the I3P Startup Academy.
The initiative aims to provide a starting point and the fundamental knowledge needed to build a new business project based on a technological solution: over 140 aspiring entrepreneurs participated in the three previous editions of the initiative, which then gave rise to more than 15 business projects. This year's training course, which is free of charge as always, will consist of seven sessions scheduled from March to June 2026.
Online applications to participate in the Academy are now open and will close on March 10, 2026, with an initial pre-selection based on compliance with the requirements for participation and a second introductory step before the final selection. The program has a maximum of 40 places available in total.
How to create a start-up
The goal of the program offered by I3P is to support aspiring startuppers in their earliest stages, helping them to give concrete form to an innovative idea, meet other people with whom they can assemble a team with complementary skills, and begin the customer discovery process, with a focus on techniques for validating the business plan and examining the market it could potentially target.
The course will be divided into seven in-person workshops and will follow an interactive format: each session will be based on short theoretical lessons, business games, and discussions with expert guests — including founders of start-ups and scale-ups, investors, and industry mentors — who will give practical accounts of how a successful entrepreneurial story begins.
Once again this year, the incubator aims to create a dynamic and exciting environment that encourages collaboration among participants, the acquisition of basic concepts of the lean start-up approach, and the opportunity to meet new potential co-founders with whom to shape the innovative businesses of tomorrow.
The target of the initiative
The I3P Startup Academy 2026 program is aimed at people aged 18 to 40, and can be joined by either existing teams - composed of up to three people - with an initial idea for a future innovative business, and individuals who do not yet have a specific project but would like to get involved by joining existing groups or creating new ones are eligible to participate. In particular, the ideal target audience for the initiative is professionals, recent graduates, and students with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, preferably with a background in research or previous experience as managers or startuppers.
One of the specific aims of the program is to bring together people with different skills, either to complement existing working groups or to create new teams. To achieve this, participants must be genuinely interested in dialogue and discussion — both with tutors and mentors and with each other — and therefore willing to share their ideas and skills with other aspiring startuppers.
The Academy's initiative also aims to offer equal opportunities for networking, training, and consulting to anyone interested in starting a start-up, with a particular focus on female entrepreneurship and support for teams composed of female founders, in order to promote their growth in the world of innovation.
The program of the course
The I3P Startup Academy workshops will take place on Saturday mornings, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., on seven dates: March 28, April 11, April 18, May 9, May 16, May 30, and June 6, 2026. All meetings will be held exclusively in person, at alternating locations such as the I3P headquarters and the premises of two partner organizations: Feat. House, the social business club of Feat. Ventures, and OGR Tech, the innovation and technology hub of OGR Torino. Participation in the Academy is completely free of charge.
During the application phase, interested parties are asked to commit to following the entire program with consistency and dedication, developing a business project to be presented at the final meeting, in order to get the most out of the workshop cycle and take advantage of the opportunity it offers. Between sessions, participants will also be required to carry out activities aimed at testing and validating each business idea: this means that during the weeks of the Academy, aspiring startuppers will have to invest their time in applying the concepts, notions, and ideas acquired during the course.
To apply to participate in I3P Startup Academy 2026, the dedicated online form must be filled out by March 10, at the latest, but it is best to do so as soon as possible because the second stage of evaluation will be completed in the days immediately following. Successful applications will be confirmed by March 19, in time for the first workshop on Saturday, March 28.
For more information about the initiative and its program, it is possible to write to the email address academy@i3p.it.
