Transforming the human body's natural defenses into a precision tool against disease. This is the mission of NanoMuG, a start-up that uses bio-inspired nanotechnology to mimic and enhance our body's mechanisms for fighting infections, tumors, and other pathologies. This cutting-edge approach, developed in the Life Sciences sector, earned the project — supported by the Italian incubator 2i3T — the victory in the Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta 2025 competition. NanoMuG aims to pave the way for a new era in regenerative medicine and personalized care, based on a sustainable and circular model.
Now in its 21st edition, the Business Plan Competition is organized as part of the PNI – Italian National Innovation Award and promoted by the business incubators I3P of Politecnico di Torino (the Polytechnic University of Turin) and 2i3T of the University of Turin. The initiative was created to spread the culture of innovation, promote the economic development of the Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta regions, and support the creation of high-tech start-ups in the Life Sciences, ICT, Cleantech & Energy, Industrial, Tourism, and Creative Cultural Industry sectors.
The winners were selected from over 200 business ideas. The competition, divided into two phases — the Ideas Competition and the Business Plan Competition — offers participants access to specialist advice, mentorship, prizes in cash and in services.
The winners of the 2025 edition
Thanks to the funding provided by the promoting and supporting bodies and the resources of the European Social Fund 2021-2027, this year's total prize pool exceeded €75,000, awarded in cash and services. The winners were announced during the award ceremony held on October 27, 2025, in Turin, Italy, at the Auditorium of the Piedmont Region Congress Center.
The start-up NanoMuG, in the Life Sciences category, won the first prize of €7,500 thanks to its bio-inspired nanotechnology that uses the body's natural defense mechanisms to fight infections and tumors, offering a sustainable and replicable platform for the medicine of the future.
At second place, winning a prize of €5,000, was TheiaSense, in the Industrial category, which develops high-performance fiber optic sensors for structural monitoring and space environments, offering tailor-made solutions for safety and advanced diagnostics. The young company is supported by I3P.
The third prize of €2,500 went to Rcalls, incubated in I3P and belonging in the Industrial category, which has created CRM software dedicated to complaint management, capable of optimizing business processes and improving product quality while reducing insurance risks.
Tied at fourth place, three projects - all supported by I3P - ex aequo:
- NewOilFactory (Cleantech & Energy), which produces innovative, sustainable, and healthy ingredients for the food industry;
- Braintex (Industrial), which applies artificial intelligence to the quality control of industrial fabrics to reduce waste and production costs;
- Hematica (Life Sciences), which develops advanced solutions to optimize blood purification treatments such as dialysis, improving their effectiveness and safety through real-time monitoring.
The top six projects will each receive a prize of €1,000 for entry into the 2025 edition of the PNI, the Italian National Innovation Award, the “champions' cup” among the winning business projects of the regional Start Cups, which this year will take place in Ferrara, at Ferrara Expo, on Thursday, December 4, and Friday, December 5, 2025. The event will be organized jointly by PNICube and the University of Ferrara, as part of ECOSISTER – Ecosistema Territoriale di Innovazione dell’Emilia-Romagna, funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza, PNRR).
The partners' Special Prizes
As part of Start Cup Piemonte Valle D'Aosta 2025, several Special Prizes were also awarded by the event's sponsors and partners, with the aim of providing concrete support for the development of innovation.
The Fondazione CRC Prize, worth €10,000, dedicated to the best business project to be established in the Province of Cuneo, was awarded to Ülink (ICT), an artificial intelligence engine that optimizes landing pages in real time by customizing them for each visitor and replacing manual A/B testing with autonomous and continuous experiments.
The Valle d'Aosta Prize, worth €7,500, went to Wharp® (ICT), a platform that integrates archaeological, territorial, and regulatory data to provide multi-level maps of archaeological potential, helping designers and contractors to estimate times and costs and simplify authorization procedures.
The Sustainability In Aerospace Prize, worth €7,500 and offered by Distretto Aerospaziale Piemonte (Piedmont Aerospace Cluster), was awarded to SVP Industries (Industrial), innovative start-up incubated in I3P and in the ESA BIC Turin incubation program. SVP develops SmartCore, a patented 3D thruster for satellites with integrated thrust vectoring and fiber optic sensors for performance monitoring.
Fondazione Laura & Franco Beltramo ETS has awarded the Social Innovation Prizes, worth a total of €7,500, to:
- Symbion (ICT), winner of the Gold Prize worth €5,000, which is developing a humanoid robot capable of interpreting Italian Sign Language (LIS) to improve accessibility in public services;
- StarLIGH2T (Cleantech & Energy), winner of the Silver Prize worth €2,500, which develops patented technology to produce clean hydrogen from water using only sunlight.
The City of the Future and Sustainability Prize, worth €7,500 in services and offered by the LINKS Foundation, was awarded to PreDrive (ICT) for its predictive traction and stability control system for vehicles with V2X connectivity, capable of improving safety and stability on the road.
Jacobacci & Partners awarded the Jacobacci Gold and Silver Prizes, worth a total of €7,000 in services, to:
- ECO-RED (Cleantech & Energy), for the development of electrolysers that electrochemically valorise CO₂ and non-noble catalysts for sustainable industrial processes;
- Dynacue (Life Sciences), for its automated bioreactors that reproduce 3D environments for cell cultures, reducing time, costs, and animal testing.
The UniCredit Start Lab Prize, which includes a mentorship session to evaluate entry into the Start Lab program, was awarded to Abilito (Life Sciences), Italy's first end-to-end digital telerehabilitation clinic based on a SaaS platform and artificial intelligence.
The Ing. Domenico Appendino Prizes offered by AME Ventures, worth a total of €10,000, went to:
- Etak (Cleantech & Energy), Gold Award worth €7,000, for its WTE technology that converts waste into high-calorific syngas;
- Lighter (Cleantech & Energy), Silver Prize worth €3,000, which develops electrodes for hydrogen fuel cells using patented laser techniques.
Lastly, the three “Future Mobility” prizes from the City of Turin – ToMove project were given to:
- Civimatica (Cleantech & Energy), for its intelligent urban traffic management system based on digital twins, AI, and IoT;
- PreDrive (ICT), for its predictive driving technology;
- Splitty (ICT), a real-time carpooling app that optimizes short trips by reducing costs and emissions.
The Special Mentions
During the Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta 2025, numerous special mentions were also awarded.
The Women's Entrepreneurship – Invitalia Mention was awarded to NewOilFactory (Industrial) for its entrepreneurial project led by a predominantly female team in the field of sustainable food production.
The Social Innovation Mention went to NanoZoom (Life Sciences), which develops nanoparticles as ultrasound contrast agents for the early diagnosis of gastrointestinal and breast cancers.
The Open Innovation / Industrial Spin-offs Mention was given to Wharp® (ICT) for its contribution to collaboration between research and industry in the field of digital preventive archaeology.
The Climate Change Mention went to Altered Materials (Cleantech & Energy), which has developed a microplastic-free technology for encapsulating fertilizers and biostimulants, improving agronomic efficiency and reducing environmental impact.
The Sustainable Technologies Mention, offered by Jacobacci & Partners, was awarded to NanoMuG (Life Sciences) for the originality and sustainability of its bio-inspired nanotechnology.
The Ing. Domenico Appendino Mention was given to PhotonSolarSystems (Cleantech & Energy), which manufactures miniaturized photovoltaic systems designed for companies and organizations that carry out environmental sampling or wireless communications. The device is designed as a portable case for storing and supplying energy in remote locations, facilitating environmental monitoring and decentralized communication activities.
The growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem
“We are delighted to celebrate the 21st edition of Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta, an initiative that continues to grow and consolidate its role in the development of the region's entrepreneurial ecosystem,” commented the Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta organizing committee, composed of representatives from the two Piedmontese incubators I3P and 2i3T. "The high quality and diversity of the projects presented confirm the interest in rapidly expanding sectors such as ICT, as well as the ability of our universities and incubators to generate significant innovations in complex fields such as Life Sciences and Industrial. This year, with the victory of NanoMuG, we are celebrating a project that transforms the human body's natural defenses into a precision tool against disease, paving the way for a new era of regenerative medicine and personalized care. This success underscores the concrete impact that collaboration between research and business can have in creating sustainable innovations with high social value."
Elena Chiorino, Vice President of Regione Piemonte with responsibility for Education and Merit, Right to University Education, Employment, Vocational Training and Corporate Welfare, Relations with Regionally Owned Companies, said: "Start Cup Piemonte Valle d’Aosta shows that when you really invest in talent and innovation, the future takes shape. The Piedmont Region does not just encourage ideas: it transforms them into businesses, with concrete investments aimed at supporting new start-ups and accompanying young people in the transition from dream to reality. It is proof that employment and training policies, if well directed, generate real development. This is the Piedmont we want: a region that does not give up, that innovates, that believes in its young people and in the power of merit. That unleashes energy."
Andrea Tronzano, Regional Councilor for Budget, Finance, Economic and Financial Planning, Development of Productive Activities: Industry, Crafts, SMEs and Cooperative Enterprises, Internationalization and Investment Attraction, added: "Start Cup demonstrates how innovation arises from the convergence of education, research, business, and institutions. Supporting start-ups means creating development, employment, and new technological supply chains. Piedmont is investing to strengthen its innovation ecosystem, making it increasingly competitive and attractive at an international level."
Cristina Prandi, Rector of the University of Turin, emphasized: "The victory of NanoMuG, a start-up incubated by 2i3T and founded within the University of Turin, confirms the power of research when it becomes a project, collaboration, and impact. It is the result of the multidisciplinary approach that UniTo takes, integrating scientific, technological, and humanistic skills, generating constant dialogue between different fields of knowledge, and directing research toward concrete solutions to improve people's lives. For the University of Turin, innovation is not just a buzzword. Supporting the creation of new businesses means giving continuity to knowledge, enhancing human capital, and contributing to the economic and cultural development of the region. The synergy between Piedmontese universities and regional institutions continues to be a strategic lever for consolidating Piedmont's role as a laboratory for the future on the national scene."
Chiara L. G. Ferroni, Head of Research, Business Relations and Innovation at Politecnico di Torino, added: "At Politecnico di Torino, we believe that research should leave the laboratory and become business. That is why we are committed to contributing to the growth of an open, collaborative innovation ecosystem that is deeply rooted in the local area. The Start Cup perfectly embodies our mission: ‘enabling ideas to become businesses’ by creating the connections and skills needed to tackle the market. Today we celebrate the people — students, researchers, and entrepreneurs — who have chosen to believe in their ideas and put themselves out there to make them happen."
Davide Ferraris, delegate of the Rector of the University of Eastern Piedmont, said: "Start Cup Piedmont Valle d'Aosta is a very important event for promoting entrepreneurial ideas that originate in academia and are the result of close collaboration between students, researchers, and teachers united by the idea of ‘doing business’. The participation of the academic research community and the University of Eastern Piedmont in the Start Cup Piemonte Valle d'Aosta responds to the mission of allocating and returning scientific discoveries and the benefits resulting from them to society, in the form of new business ideas and the development of new technologies. The Start Cup represents an opportunity for discussion and growth, which is the basis of all scientific progress and economic development."
