Some ideas generated within the PhDplus Programme and research activities of the University of Pisa have turned into business projects that have achieved success in some national events.
On September 25, the Start Cup Tuscany took place in Siena. This competition is promoted by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in collaboration with the regional network of technology transfer offices of universities in Tuscany.

The winner of the competition was JOS, an innovative platform for the charging of electric and electronic devices. Third place was IVTech,  innovative in-vitro technologies for alternatives to animal tests. These projects, together with three other finalists, came from PhDplus , which proved to be  an excellent training to the development of entrepreneurial skills.

Another PhDplus startup “Awhy” gained the “CreaImpresa-CAN” prize at the ICT business competition ITCUP13 organized by Registro.it, the Italian registry of internet domains. Awhy supports businesses and customers in the e-commerce experience. At the same competition, #SOME won the “iDNA” communication and marketing prize. #SOME is a startup funded by University of Pisa graduates and researchers that developed an innovative IOT platform for the creation and configuration of customized smart objects.

Finally, University of Pisa students and graduates had great successes at the Rome Maker Faire 2013. BESOS is a project by Luigi Francesco Cerfeda, a student in Biomedical Engineering, with the technological support of FabLab Pisa and the University of Pisa. This entrepreneurial project reached the final round of the business competition “TechGarage” organized by Maker Faire and the Italian VC DPixel. The idea is to make analog front-end devices for bioelectrical signals acquisition as plug-in and user-friendly shields for Arduino platforms.