Consolidating the European entrepreneurial ecosystem: fourth edition of the INNOVA Europe Summit
On 4 and 5 June 2026, the fourth edition of the INNOVA Europe competition – co-founded by EDHEC – was held at Aalto University, in Espoo, Finland. The competition showcases responsible entrepreneurial projects from all over Europe.
Created in 2023 by EDHEC Business School, POLIMI Graduate School of Management and ESMT Berlin, the INNOVA Europe competition caters to all start-ups originated in the participating schools’ ecosystems (by students or alumni), together with incubated start-ups. Through the various editions, the competition has gradually opened up to other institutions like Aalto University (Finland) – which played host to the competition this year - ETH Zurich (Switzerland), IE University (Spain), Kyiv School of Economics (Ukraine), London Business School (UK), Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands) and University College Dublin (Ireland). In 2026, the initiative expanded further with the arrival of a new partner university, the University of Vienna, in Austria.
Reflecting the competition’s growing scale, this fourth edition adopted a longer format, switching from a half-day to two full days. Conceived as a genuine forum for exchanges between institutions, INNOVA Europe Summit seeks to enrich and promote thinking on the subject of responsible entrepreneurship on a Europe-wide scale. The programme consequently involved sessions devoted to the discovery of the Finnish ecosystem, time set aside for dialogue with experts, together with a visit to Aalto’s campus and research laboratories, before concluding with the competition’s grand final.
2026: students-only in this year’s edition
For this year’s competition, 11 teams consisting solely of students took part. Each team presented a start-up project responding to one of the United Nations sustainable development goals, such as climate action, responsible consumption and production, or reduced inequalities. The teams were competing to win one of the four prizes on offer, i.e. three prizes awarded to the top three teams, plus the Most Innovative Idea prize awarded by the public. Bilal Bouzbiba, Master 1 student, represented EDHEC with his Refurb project, which provides a furniture rental system for unfurnished apartment rentals.
Three teams won prizes for their projects at the end of the event. The first prize and the Most Innovative Idea prize were both awarded to London Business School for LatentLoop, an energy recovery solution for buildings, based on a thermal battery capable of capturing heat from waste water. The second prize went to UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School for Aronno, an innovative sustainable floating agriculture project. The third and last prize was attributed to the University of Vienna for Rebox, a reusable shipping system designed for companies renting out objects.
