Federico II wins 2025 edition of Start Cup Campania

The Janus team of the University of Naples Federico II wins Start Cup Campania 2025. The Federico University won four of the top five positions. On the top step of the podium went Janus, a group led by Ettore Saetta, which worked on artificial intelligence algorithms developed in machine learning. Software that can run on browsers and uses data provided by users to predict new ones.

In second place is SporaVax, from Federico II, a vaccine based on the antigen-presenting capacity of Bacillus subtilis endospores; in third is Agriker, Universitario del Sannio, dedicated to the production of biodegradable materials with keratin extracted from chicken feathers, reducing the impact of the poultry industry; fourth and fifth Rethain and Clinequal, from the Federico II University, respectively dedicated one to the innovative low-cost biodigestion process that recovers nitrogen from digestate and transforms it into microbial proteins that can be used as fertilizers and biostimulants, and the other to the specialized application in pharmaceutical company-neutral clinical trial data analysis.

Eleven finalist teams presented their innovations: the top five, in addition to cash prizes, services and facilities, will enter the finals of the National Innovation Prize (PNI), scheduled to be held in Ferrara, Italy, on Dec. 4 and 5. The winners of SCC 2025 will also participate in the Innovation Village Award final on Oct. 28 in Naples.

Also selected for the "student" category were the Federico II - Apple Academy projects Blinko, an educational iPad app for children 5 to 7 for learning Federico II - Apple Academy; SongSphere, a native iOS app in which players challenge each other to recognize songs in the shortest possible time, with scores based on the speed and correctness of answers - Federico II - Apple Academy.

Start Cup Campania is the longest-running competition among innovative university-based business projects, promoted by the universities of CampaniaUniversità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Università degli Studi di Napoli Parthenope, Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa, Università degli Studi del Sannio, Università degli Studi di Salerno and Università degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale, with the aim of spreading innovation declined to enterprise culture among students, doctoral students and researchers.