Startup Generation Challenge 2026

On 9 October 2026, at Palazzo della Gran Guardia in Verona, the Startup Generation Challenge brought together university students and young professionals for a full day as part of RelazionEXPO. Organised with Startup Grind Vicenza, the challenge asked teams to build solutions to the problems facing Generation Z, from the transition between education and work to talent drain, and to present them to a jury of entrepreneurs, investors and representatives of institutions.

Economics Network took part as a partner of the initiative and with its own team. At the end of the day, during the official award ceremony, the Economics Network team finished first and received the first-place trophy.

Beyond the award, the challenge gave every team direct feedback from the jury during the day and networking opportunities with the companies and institutions at RelazionEXPO; for the finalist teams, the organisers planned visibility on the channels of Generazione Sprecata, the event's media partner.