Open Innovation programmes
Open Innovation is one of the most effective opportunities for all economic players engaging in innovation, as it allows them to gain a competitive advantage in their industry through cooperation with other players.
The University of Milan fosters collaborative networks and strategic partnerships with institutions and companies for the development of innovative solutions. It promotes projects that can accelerate the application of research findings, in order to respond to new challenges through close synergy with the economic and social realms.
Seed4Innovation – S4I is the first scouting programme of the University of Milan, created with the UNIMI Foundation: it aims at identifying University projects with high potential for industrial development.
CirculAgri Lab is a living lab established as part of Agritech spoke 8, in collaboration with the University of Milan. Its mission is to promote technology transfer by creating synergies between researchers, universities and companies, in order to accelerate the development and implementation of innovative solutions in the agricultural sector.
Applications are now open for Falling Walls Lab Milan, Italy 2026, the Italian segment of the international contest on scientific and social innovation. Students, PhD candidates, researchers and professionals will challenge one another to answer a simple yet ambitious question: what will be the next wall to fall?
Each participant will have three minutes to pitch their project in front of an international jury. The winner will fly to Berlin to participate in the Falling Walls Science Summit, a global stage where the most breakthrough ideas will be presented to scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs from all over the world.
Falling Walls Lab Milan, Italy 2026 will take place on 21 May at the University of Milano-Bicocca. The initiative is organised by the University of Milano-Bicocca in partnership with Fondazione U4i, MUSA scarl, the University of Milan, Bocconi University, the University of Bergamo, the University of Pavia, the University of Padua, the Polytechnic University of Bari, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the Catholic University of Milan, Politecnico di Torino, the University of Turin, the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Social Innovation Teams, BiM, Netval, MITO Technology, the Italian Institute of Technology, Scientifica Venture Capital and Forest Valley.
Registration is now open for the "HSIL Hackathon 2026 – Building High-Value Health Systems: Leveraging AI", the global "AI in Medicine" hackathon organized by Harvard’s Health Systems Innovation Lab (HSIL). For the first time, the event will also be hosted in Italy, at the Fondazione Triulza headquarters located in the Milan Innovation District (MIND).
In parallel with participants from more than 30 countries around the world, multidisciplinary teams of up to six members will work to develop AI-driven solutions applicable to the healthcare sector.
On 10 and 11 April 2026, Milan will be one of the official venues for the event thanks to an outstanding collaboration among the University of Milan, Polytechnic University of Milan, Federated Innovation @MIND, Human Technopole and the Italian Society for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (SIIAM).
Now in its seventh edition, the Hackathon will provide access to the Health Systems Innovation Lab Venture Incubation Program, with the opportunity to continue competing with the winning teams from other hubs around the globe.
Register by 30 January 2026 to participate as a team or individually!
Places are limited, and selected participants will be notified by February 2026.
The first UNITE Open Call, offering 4 million euros in financial support for innovative Joint Interregional Projects (JIP) in the field of digital health, is now open.
The call aims to support breakthrough solutions capable of transforming European healthcare by addressing the following challenges:
- Deep-Tech Innovation for Equal Health
- Advancing Personalised and Human-Centric Remote Care
In order to be eligible, projects must be submitted a consortium made up of at least three organisations from three different UNITE regions. The list of regions, which includes Lombardy, is available on the project website. Moreover, the consortium must include:
- at least one company acting as solution provider
- at least one research entity supporting the development phase
- at least one end-user organisation tasked with applying or testing the solution (e.g. a hospital, living lab, test bed, health service provider etc.).
To facilitate stakeholder matchmaking and the creation of interregional consortia, UNITE has set up a dedicated platform called B2 Match. When registering on the platform, UniMi professors and researchers are advised to link their profile to that of our University, which is already registered on the platform.
The deadline for submitting projects is 15 January 2026.
For clarifications, please write to [email protected] or [email protected]
Seed4Sport (S4S) aims to identify, support and accelerate innovative solutions and ideas in the sport sector, to contribute to athlete well-being, social inclusion and the creation of local added value.
The initiative is organised by the University of Milan and sponsored by Fondazione Cariplo. Participation is open to professors and researchers of the University of Milan, either individually or in team.
The call for projects is divided into two tracks:
- Track 1 – Innovation and technology transfer: this track focuses on the development and market readiness of innovative solutions with a strong application potential. More specifically, it aims to support practical/entrepreneurial applications in the sport sector — including the creation of start-ups and spin-offs — to enhance athletic excellence, athlete well-being, social inclusion and local impact, also in light of major upcoming events, such as the Olympic Games.
- Track 2 – Public Engagement: this track focuses on sports-related outreach, awareness-raising and local enhancement initiatives, as well as on projects to promote physical health. We particularly welcome projects that are connected to Olympic sports.
Shortlisted projects will progress to the acceleration and mentoring phase. The two best projects, one for each track, will receive funding to support their further development and validation.
Projects must be submitted via the Seed4Sport submission form no later than 14 October 2025 at 14:00.
For further information and clarifications, please write to:
- Track 1 – [email protected]
- Track 2 – [email protected]