"Students Sprint" 2026 concludes with innovative solutions for South Tyrolean companies

“Students Sprint” 2026, created by NOI Techpark and the Free University Bolzano (unibz), has successfully concluded. Over four intense days, 53 students worked on three real-world challenges presented by Brandnamic, Prinoth, and Raiffeisen Oltradige.

The students were divided into nine interdisciplinary teams and worked together on challenges brought forward by three companies from South Tyrol. Participants came from unibz and universities across Europe, including France, Germany, Portugal, and Spain. At the final event, each team got the chance to present their concepts and solutions, with three projects, one per company challenge, awarded for their outstanding ideas.

Brandnamic challenged the teams to rethink how South Tyrol could become an attractive tourist destination all year round, Prinoth asked students to find ways to unlock additional value from their electric snowcat batteries. Meanwhile, Raiffeisen Oltradige sought innovative ways to communicate the cooperative banking model and make it more appealing to younger generations.

Among the winning concepts, the team working on the Brandnamic challenge proposed a data-driven B2B approach that focuses on customized off-season retreats designed specifically for companies. In Prinoth’s challenge, the winning project proposed a vehicle-to-grid energy hub that integrates snow groomer batteries into ski resorts’ internal electrical system, not only charging, but also feeding energy back into the grid when needed. Lastly, the team addressing the Raiffeisen Oltradige challenge redesigned the membership journey by emphasizing collective impact, clear participation in decisions about social investments, and a meaningful welcome moment that transforms the transition from customer to member into a memorable experience.