Leximore, BioFashionTech, INSIGHT, EFESO are the winning projects of Startcup Lombardia 2024. To SoBu the Social Impact Special Award, to SMUSH materials the Climate Change/Green&Blue Sustainability Award, to Glutensens the Women's Entrepreneurship Special Mention

Leximore, BioFashionTech, INSIGHT, EFESO are the winning projects of Startcup Lombardia 2024, the competition organised by Lombardy’s Universities and University Incubators with the aim of spreading the culture of innovation within the university context, fostering the development of new entrepreneurship, promoted by Regione Lombardia – Direzione Generale Sviluppo Economico and MUSA – Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action, with the coordination of PoliHub – Innovation Park & Startup Accelerator of Politecnico di Milano.

Also for the 2024 edition, the Lombardy Region has renewed its support for the competition with a prize fund of 155 thousand euro for the best candidate projects, divided into four categories: ICT & Services, Industrial Technologies, Life Science & MedTech and CleanTech & Energy.

One hundred and fourteen start-ups applied, 20 were semi-finalists, and 12 made it to the finals. To evaluate the best projects – during the event hosted at the Belvedere in Palazzo Lombardia – a committee chaired by Regione Lombardia and made up of venture capital representatives.

The winners

These are the winning projects in the ICT & Services, CleanTech & Energy, Life Sciences & MedTech, and Industrial Technologies categories – to which an economic contribution of 25,000 euros goes to support their development.

  • Leximore (ICT & Services): the project, from Milan Polytechnic, involves the development of an immersive, modular therapeutic game technology for children with and without special needs.
  • BioFashionTech (CleanTech & Energy: the project, by PoliHub – Innovation District & Startup Accelerator, envisages the transformation of mixed-fibre textile waste into bio-based materials using a patented enzymatic process for sustainable recycling.
  • INSIGHT (Life Sciences & MedTech): the project – by Politecnico di Milano – proposes a sensorised endoscopic add-on for an AI-enhanced colonoscopy.
  • EFESO (Industrial Technologies): the project, from the Politecnico di Milano, consists in the development of innovative deep tech solutions consisting of sustainable and ultra-low energy technology devices.

The Special Prizes: Social Impact and Sustainability Climate Change/Green&Blue

In addition to the four prizes mentioned above, there are the Special Prizes, dedicated to Social Impact and Sustainability Climate Change/Green&Blue, with a contribution of 25,000 euro each.

The Social Impact Special Prize was awarded to SoBu, from B4i – Bocconi for Innovation, a startup project consisting of an app with audio-motor games designed to help blind children connect with others and explore the world.

The Climate Change/Green&Blue Sustainability Special Award went to SMUSH Materials from the Milan Polytechnic, a start-up that exploits mushroom fermentation technologies to transform agro-industrial by-products into circular and compostable packaging.

The Special Mention Female Entrepreneurship went to Glutensens as a startup with a majority of female founders. The project, from the University of Milan, consists in the development of an electrochemical device capable of detecting the presence of gluten in real time.

To all the winners of the Category and Special Prizes also goes the Pni Special Mention, which will allow access to the National Prize for Innovation, to be held in Rome on 5 and 6 December 2024.

‘The competition,’ explains Regional Councillor for Economic Development Guido Guidesi, ‘produces a multiplier effect for private investment, creating added value for our economy. Lombardy confirms itself as the ‘home of ideas’, the place where new generations of entrepreneurs and innovators can realise their projects’.

‘Initiatives such as Startcup Lombardia represent a fundamental meeting point between academic research and entrepreneurship,’ commented Giovanna Iannantuoni, President of Musa. ‘Musa’s aim is precisely this: to promote an innovative ecosystem capable of fostering the development of projects with a high technological and social impact, helping to strengthen the dialogue between the public, private and university sectors. We firmly believe that such synergies are essential to meet the challenges of the future, with a view to sustainable and inclusive growth’.