Academia To Unicorn by UniTo
“Academia to Unicorn” is a peer learning and networking event organized by the University of Turin, with the participation of the University of Helsinki and the support of Compagnia di San Paolo.
The event is designed for technology transfer offices (TTOs), innovation intermediaries (including incubators, accelerators and both academic and non-academic organizations) and focused on innovation and entrepreneurship.
The event aims to:
Identify the main challenges that institutions and innovation support structures across Europe face in helping researchers and students create successful entrepreneurial ventures.
Facilitate connections among peers to strengthen collaboration and build a shared understanding of effective strategies.
Exchange best practices, tools, and lessons learned to ignite the entrepreneurial culture into academic communities and accelerate the transition from academic research to market-ready startups and scale-ups.
✨ Agenda
Registration opens at 15:00. We recommend arriving 30 minutes earlier to ensure a smooth start. The official programme begins at 15:30
15:00 – 15:30 | Registration and accreditation
15:30 – 15:40 | Welcome and institutional greetings – Elisa Rosso, Director of Research, Innovation and Internationalization, University of Turin
15:40 – 16:00 | Seeding the Future: Turin’s Innovation Journey – Michele Osella, Head of Innovation, Compagnia di San Paolo
16:00 – 17:00 | Keynote by Pete Karumo and Rosa Salmivuori, University of Helsinki: Experiences and successful models of entrepreneurship support within academic institutions
17:00 – 17:15 | Q&A session
17:15 – 17:30 | Coffee break
17:30 – 18:30 | Breakout sessions: group discussions on key topics, moderated by UniTo and University of Helsinki
18:30 – 18:50 | Plenary session: presentation of insights and proposals from group discussions
18:50 – 19:00 | Conclusions – University of Turin & University of Helsinki
19:00 | Networking aperitif
About the speakers
Pete Karumo is Startup Strategist and Project Lead of the Social Impact Program at Helsinki Incubators, University of Helsinki. With more than 25 years of international experience across Finland, France and Singapore. Pete has built his career in the ICT industry with global players such as Oracle, Nokia and Texas Instruments, before moving into entrepreneurship and startup support. He has co-founded and led several scale-ups and social enterprises, including pioneering projects in Europe (first Wi-Fi hotspots) and Asia (a Singapore-based social impact game for pre-teens). Today, at the University of Helsinki, he focuses on helping researchers and students transform ideas into impactful ventures, while also fostering international collaboration between academic and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Rosa Salmivuori (MSSc in Anthropology) specializes in innovation ecosystems, focusing on leveraging research from the humanities and social sciences to drive innovation and create opportunities for researchers and students. With over 10 years of experience in academic innovation and entrepreneurship, she has worked on a grassroots level to encourage student innovation, served as CEO of an entrepreneurship society, and now focuses on the strategic development of innovation activities at the university.
Join us for an afternoon of work and networking ✨
Please take note: the event will be held in English.