What's in it for Participants?

Padova's first multidisciplinary problem-solving competition! If you are interested in problem-solving in a multidisciplinary team, and willing to develop yourself professionally - InnoPadova is for you! ‍ You will get to learn hands-on experience in design thinking methods as well as meet like-minded, talented people. After this challenge, you will get in touch with the partner companies for a potential employment opportunity. On top of all that, you get to have fun, enjoy free coffee and snacks, and the winning teams will win prize money!

It's free for the participants! The entire event, including the actual competition, a virtual pre-event, keynote speakers, mentoring by Design Thinking experts, delicious snacks, and sponsor products, are free of charge.

English will be the primary language of the entire event.

Not at all, the core idea of InnoPadova is to try new things and learn! We welcome every background of talents to participate.

Yes! At InnoPadova, we embrace multidisciplinarity and believe that teams with diverse backgrounds should be seen as an asset! Everyone interested in innovation and want to learn more about design thinking methodologies is warmly welcome to apply! The teams are built with an even balance of participants from different fields of study. So no matter if you are an architect, marketer, designer, coder, physicist, chemist or something else entirely, in InnoPadova there's room and need for everyone!

The only criteria is that you have to be a student at the University of Padova, regardless of the year, the level, or the specialization of your studies.

Unfortunately, you must be a student or stuff member at the university of Padova. (Bachelor, Masters, PhD, PostDoc, or Researcher). We can make exception for Padova graduates, but it will be evaluated on case-by-case basis.

No, you apply as an individual - we take care of the team forming process and make sure your team will be diverse, functional, and awesome. There is no gurantee that you and your friend will be assinged to the same team. But yes, you and your friend are both warmly welcome to apply!

There's no previous experience required for participating in InnoPadova just eagerness to learn! We'll teach you how to effectively use design thinking methodologies and you'll receive guidance from our mentors to make the most of your team's multidisciplinarity and tackle the challenge. Briefly described, design thinking is a problem-solving process that prioritizes the user's needs above all else, provides and iterative, hands-on approach to creating innovative solutions, and emphasizes empathic observation of how people interact with their environments. We in InnoPadova see design thinking as a fantastic tool to create sustainable solutions and optimal experiences for both customers and organizations. And it's something that everybody can, and should, learn.

Yes! You'll get more familiar with the design thinking methods during InnoPadova, as our mentors will help guide you to develop new perspectives and give feedback on your ongoing project work.

No. The entire event is in person.

Nothing! All you need is the eagerness to learn, apply your skills, and collaborate with people from different educational backgrounds.

The winning team will be rewarded with a prize money, but there will be smaller prizes as well. However, we guarantee that participating in the hackathon - learning how to solve problems by applying design thinking methods, gaining experience solving real-life company problems, getting in touch with the partner companies and meeting like-minded, talented people - is a great opportunity and a valuable experience itself!

Once you apply, we will keep you updated about everything related to InnoPadova.