A project born at the Course Laboratorio Sostenibilità e Imprenditorialità Sociale directed by Alessandra Scroccaro and Paolo Campagnano of the Dipartimento di Economia and hosted by School of Innovation and now ready to move toward the market with the support of Enactus Italy and WDA.
Every day, European cities face the same growing challenge: managing increasingly intense mobility flows without worsening congestion, emissions, or the quality of urban life. Traffic forecasts quickly become outdated, user behaviours shift unpredictably, and mobility services struggle to provide accurate, real-time guidance. It is precisely in this space of uncertainty that innovation can make a tangible difference, especially when it brings together predictive technologies, user-centric insights and sustainability.
This is the context in which SMEN – Smart Mobility and Eco Navigation took shape. Developed by Maninder Kaur, Alessio Carabotta, Andrea Ognibeni and Giulia Peloso, students from the Dipartimento di Economia e Management at University of Trento, the project emerged from a simple yet pressing observation: urban travellers often lack tools to choose routes that are efficient, sustainable and truly updated. To respond to this need, the team designed a digital platform powered by a predictive artificial intelligence algorithm capable of supporting users in planning their journeys in real time, reducing road congestion and encouraging more conscious and responsible mobility decisions.
This clear and ambitious vision earned the project a place in the Enactus Advanced Program 2025, the acceleration track designed for student initiatives with strong innovative potential and community impact. Over the course of eight bi-weekly sprints, participants move “from idea to market” by validating their business models, designing a Minimum Viable Product, defining growth strategies and operational plans, and working on market analysis, target validation, traction and impact assessment.
For Maninder, Alessio, Andrea and Giulia, joining the Advanced Program is an opportunity to transform months of design work into a structured entrepreneurial journey. It means testing their idea in a real ecosystem, engaging with mentors and professionals, and shaping a product capable of generating measurable impact on the way people move through cities every day.
From the very beginning, the School of Innovation has supported the team with people, expertise, networks and dedicated spaces, strengthening the interdisciplinary mindset, experimentation and collaboration that lie at the core of its educational model based on challenge-based learning, prototyping and direct interaction with the innovation ecosystem.
SMEN’s selection for the Enactus Advanced Program reinforces the value of experiential learning promoted by the School of Innovation, demonstrating how students can turn ideas into high-impact initiatives when equipped with the right tools, environment and guidance.