Over one hundred applications and twenty teams selected for a three-month program aimed at transforming innovative ideas into businesses

The ninth edition of has officially started Boldbrain Startup Challenge, the program with which ACT FoundationBoldbrain, together with the USI Startup Centre and thanks to the support of the Canton of Ticino's Economics Division and BancaStato, supports the development of innovative proposals. Aimed at startups in their early stages, each year Boldbrain offers twenty teams a three-month training program to consolidate their ideas and transform them into entrepreneurial projects. This year, the program kicked off in Manno with the presentation of the participants, who will continue their work until the awards ceremony scheduled for December.

The 2026 edition has been marked from the very beginning by an unprecedented result in the initiative's history: of the 243 applications submitted, 112 reached the submission stage and 102 met the requirements set by the regulations. For the first time since Boldbrain's inception in 2018, therefore, the number of admitted projects exceeds one hundred, marking a growth of over 30 percent compared to the 78 recorded in 2025.

Most of the nominations, 75 in total, comes from SwitzerlandTicino thus maintains a central role with 58 projects, equal to 77 percent of the national total, followed by Zurich with seven and Geneva and Lucerne with two each. Basel-Stadt, Jura, Aargau, Vaud, Schwyz, and Nidwalden complete the picture, with one application per canton.

From 102 applications to twenty projects ready to grow in Canton Ticino

As previously mentioned, twenty projects have been selected from 102 eligible applications to participate in the acceleration process. Eighteen come from Switzerland and two from ItalyOf the Swiss startups, sixteen are from Ticino, while Schwyz and Nidwalden each have one team. The ideas span a variety of sectors, but ICT/Software & Data Engineering has the largest presence, with nine startups, followed by Life Sciences with four projects, and Energy/Cleantech with three. The group also includes companies that have already embarked on their entrepreneurial journey, with eight teams having formally established a company and two already present on the market.

The selection therefore paints a picture that, in addition to the program's numerical growth, demonstrates its ability to attract structured projects with concrete development potential. This is also underlined Barbara Pin, head of the startup sector of the AGIRE Foundation:

This year's record number of applications is an important sign for us: it demonstrates the growing interest in Boldbrain and, more generally, in Ticino as a place to develop an innovative entrepreneurial project. But beyond the numbers, what matters is the quality of the projects and the people who carry them out. Over the next three months, our task will be to offer them skills, methodology, discussion, and connections with the ecosystem, so they can concretely verify and strengthen the potential of their ideas.

Between prototypes and market, here's what the acceleration path entails

Beyond the numbers – which are record-breaking in themselves – and the profile of the twenty selected projects, the 2026 edition stands out for its general level of development A significant portion of the eligible applications achieved this goal. Of the proposals deemed suitable, 31 have already developed a prototype, 15 are testing an initial version of their solution on the market, and 16 have launched the commercial phase. Furthermore, 27 applicants have already formally established a company, presenting themselves to Boldbrain with an established entrepreneurial journey.

We have taken care of evaluating the profiles involved a committee made up of experts from the economic, academic and business worlds, which examined the idea's value, degree of innovation, scalability, business model, and team quality, along with the willingness to develop the business from Ticino. Once the selection process was completed, the operational phase of the program began for the selected projects.

The first meeting at the Auditorium of the Suglio Business Center in Manno, home to the AGIRE Foundation and the Ticino Technology Park, marked the beginning of a three-month program during which professional coaches will support the teams in six workshops, helping them apply the tools and skills they have acquired to their projects. At the end of this process, only half of the participants will advance to the final phase.

There are ten startups that will reach the final, scheduled for December 10, 2026 at the Lugano Congress CenterDuring the awards ceremony, open to the public, the finalists will present their ideas and compete for the 2026 awards.

The trailer “Boldbrain Startup Challenge. Your success starts here”

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