Acceleration Lab 2025: the journey begins

Every year, our MYP4 students embark on a unique experience: the Acceleration Lab, a journey that takes them beyond the classroom and invites them to step into the shoes of young entrepreneurs. It’s not just about presenting a project at the end of the year, but about learning a method — one that trains their eyes to spot problems, their creativity to imagine solutions, and their courage to turn those solutions into reality.

To kick off this journey, the H-FARM Startup Center came to meet the students and help them take their very first step. The session was led by Allegra Masciarelli, Acceleration Manager at H-FARM, who introduced the class to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Together, they reflected on what it really means to be an entrepreneur, on the qualities that make a leader stand out, and on how every solid project doesn’t come from pure imagination, but from the attentive observation of a real problem that needs solving. It was a moment of discovery that pushed students to look at the world differently, turning challenges into opportunities to learn and grow.

Right after, the students met Zeno Tosoni, Entrepreneurship & Startup Center Manager, who brought his direct experience in the startup world into the classroom. Through open conversation, he shared insights and reflections that highlighted the importance of listening first, having the courage to start even without all the answers, and building teams capable of sustaining and growing an idea. His message was clear: startups are not born from perfect intuitions, but from attempts, mistakes, and continuous adjustments.

The Acceleration Lab, at its heart, is not a competition to see who has the best idea: it’s a laboratory of mindset. Here, students learn not to fall in love with their own solutions but to remain faithful to the problems they want to solve; they discover that the value of a project grows when differences within a team become strengths; and they realize that the first step, however imperfect, is always the most important.

What began these past days is just the first stage of a journey that will accompany them all the way to Demo Night, when their ideas will finally be ready to be presented. Along the way there will be experiments, mistakes, adjustments, and, above all, growth. But one lesson already shines through: the future does not belong to those who merely have an idea, but to those who have the curiosity to explore, the courage to begin, and the ability to build together.