From 15 to 18 September 2026, the University of Trieste’s Innovators Community Lab – ICL will host the ELEVATE Interdisciplinary Summer School, an intensive training and teamwork programme focusing on artificial intelligence and biomedicine.

The initiative, which will take place at the Former Military Hospital, Via Fabio Severo 40, is the first of two events organised by the University of Trieste as part of ELEVATE, a European project funded by the European Union through the EIT HEI Initiative.

Over the four days, participants will work in interdisciplinary teams to address a challenge proposed by Prodigys, developing ideas and solutions with the direct support of company mentors and the lecturers involved.

The Summer School will open on 15 September with welcome remarks by Erik Vesselli, the Rector’s Delegate for Technology Transfer and Relations with Research Institutions, and João Cortez, ELEVATE Project Coordinator at Universidade Católica Portuguesa. This will be followed by a session on technology transfer and business model development and a workshop led by Salvatore Dore of the University of Trieste.

On 16 September, Prodigys will present the challenge and support the formation of the teams. The scientific background to the challenge will be provided by Mauro Giuffrè of the Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, while Arcangela Ricciardi of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore will lead a session on Value Proposition Design. The teams will then continue working until the morning of 18 September, when they will present their solutions to the jury and the winning team will be announced.

Participation is free of charge and open to students enrolled at the University of Trieste and the other university partners in the ELEVATE consortium. Applications must be submitted by 5 September 2026.

ELEVATE brings together universities and business partners from Portugal, Italy and Denmark with the aim of promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in the fields of food biotechnology, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and the cultural and creative industries.

Full programme and application form