The Challenge@PoliTO are innovative activities held at Politecnico di Torino, in particular in the premises of the CLIK (Connection Lab and Innovation Kitchen), which are part of the students’ Annual Personal Study Plan.
These are genuine challenges to find the most innovative idea: 30 Master’s students, divided into multi-disciplinary teams with various backgrounds from all Politecnico's degree programmes (Engineering, Architecture, Design, and Planning), work together to create new solutions to the challenges proposed.
The challenges have been conceived with a twofold, complementary objective:
- expanding the course catalogue of the University according to entrepreneurship training, idea generation and business development approaches;
- starting and consolidating industrial relations (from micro to large companies), with organisations, and associations through direct interaction with student teams.
There are two types of challenges, based on their origin:
- Challenge_By Firms: challenges that come from businesses and associations on concrete technological problems or issues linked to industrial dynamics;
- Challenge_By Students: challenges on macro-topics chosen by Politecnico for being considered strategic issues.
Already existing Student Teams, formed by students who work on similar topics, may enrol in the this type of challenge.
Both challenge formats require Student Teams to learn and apply new skills and working methods; the possible outcomes include the entrepreneurial development of the Team’s idea, supported by Politecnico di Torino’s “technology transfer innovation supply chain” during all different steps.
Students who solve the Challenge earn some credits (curricular or extra-curricular credits depending on the correlation between the topics and their degreeprogrammes).
Taking part in a Challenge allows students to earn the Open Badges, the internationally recognized digital certificates that make acquired skills more visible, from disciplinary knowledge to techniques and soft skills.