International opportunities for students

The SUL Demo Day

The SUL Demo Day is usually organized by the end of May. Teams have about 7 minutes to present their product or business idea before a jury composed of international entrepreneurs, professionals and professors. The SUL Winners are sponsored by the University of Trento to participate in the final round of the "Virginia Tech Global Business Challenge" at the Virginia Tech, Virginia, USA (First prize: 30.000 $).

SUL Winners

In the following, the winners of last edition of the SUL, as well as past top performers in the VTGBC, are briefly presented.

SUL 2019 Winester

winning team

SUL 2018: Artaxy

Artaxy is an online platform enabling the meeting between emerging artists willing to exhibit their creations, managers of public places such as restaurants, bars and hotels interested in qualifying their commercial spaces, and public intrigued by new ways of contact, interaction and purchase of artworks. Artaxy has developed a solution that consists of an authenticity certificate and takes care of all the phases, from the identification of the exhibition spaces, to the installation, up to the sale and delivery to the final customer. At the core of the project an innovative smart tag called Daimon, which allows users to interact with the artwork in real time. View their video pitch.

The team is represented by: Giampaolo Franco, Ramona Geanina Caulea, Quynh Anh Nguyen, Gabriele Cazzola, Sridhar Bangalore Venugopal.

SUL 2017: Flying Scarecrow

Flying Scarecrow is an innovative project for the protection of cultivation from birds attack. The system is based on a new type of drone, totally autonomous and cheaper than other solutions provided by the current market.

The members of the team are: Egle Andreina Rochira(Innovation Management); Nicoletta Morra (Master in International Management); Andrea Ferlini (EIT-Digital Technology and Architecture); Marco Zugliani (EIT- Digital Media Technology); Sofia Chimirri (EIT- Digital Software and Services Architecture); Giorgio Bertagnolli (EIT- Digital, Security & Privacy).

SUL 2016: The FOD Team

The FOD team (Friends of Deaf) developed an app for smartphone, which is able to detect car horn and police/ambulance/fire truck sirens whenever these vehicles are approaching or passing nearby. Theses noises trigger a visual alarm (smartphone screen blinking) as well as vibrations of a wearable bracelet to inform deaf driving people that an ambulance or similar is approaching.

The members of the team are: Mila Jankovic and Matilda Sulmeta (Master in International Management); Asad Ur Rahman and Yatindra Shashi (Computer Science).

SUL 2014: Feels Space wins Virgina Business Challenge

The FeelSpace navigation belt, developed in collaboration with the University of Osnabrueck (Germany), provides a navigation device for blind people. It is a belt that has vibrating units around the waist, which points to a selected goal - either a GPS coordinate or north, and vibrates to indicate the way. This is especially useful for blind and visually impaired people who need their hands and ears free to fully perceive their environment when navigating.

Julia, Galena, Alberto, Leonardo and Roman's impressions about the week in Virginia: "After winning the MIM BC, we got the chance to go to the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Challenge, where we further increased our motivation and spent quite a bit of effort on our project and the pitch. We received very good and constructive feedback from our host company in Virginia, Click & Pledge, including how to fine-tune our pitch. This event not only educated us from a business standpoint but it was a special cultural experience. Being hosted by local families gave us insights about the culture and we significantly enjoyed our time with them in a wonderful, positive atmosphere".

*As a permanent tribute to the students' outstanding effort, their name and the name of the University of Trento will be etched into the base of the Global Challenge Trophy, which will reside at VT KnowledgeWorks in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Virginia, USA*. Check the press release, the official article on Virgina Business and the Video.

The University of Trento and Trento RISE were represented in Virginia by:

  • Julia Wache (Germany), PhD candidate in ICT
  • Alberto Parrella (Italy), Master student in Innovation Management (MAIN) 
  • Leonardo Stenico (Italy, Trento), Master student in Finance
  • Roman Chirikov (Russian Federation), PhD candidate in ICT
  • Galena Kostoska (Macedonia), PhD candidate in ICT

*UPDATE 2017* Julia Wache continues to work on feelSpace and in late 2016 they concentrated on finding an investor and secured a local investment of 600K € in February 2017. The company has launched their first beta series in March and they are delivering navigation belts to their first customers. In April 2017, they participated in a major design exhibition were they presented the belt not only as a navigation device but also as a fun game. To learn more, go to their website!

SUL 2013: GraphicInsight places third in Virginia

*The Graphinsight Team won the People's Award of 5.000 US$ at the Virginia Tech Business Challenge!* GraphInsight qualified to participate at the VT Business Challenge as winners of the 2013 SUL as well as Innovaction Lab, organized by Trento RISE.

Graphinsight is an innovative 3D data visualization tool for Business Intelligence with the ability to visualize very large network graphs to explain the market, influential customers, competitors, and show the relations between them.

Check the Official press release and Corriere dell'Innovazione

The team members of the University of Trento are:

  • Michele Dallachiesa, Italy, PhD student in Computer Science and Telecommunications
  • Alice Porrà , Italy, Master in Innovation Management (MAIN)
  • Gintare Simkute, Master in Innovation Management (MAIN)