Premio Swissengineering Ticino 2026

The PREMIOSWISSENGINEERINGTICINO Foundation aims to showcase the work of recent graduates in the fields of engineering and architecture, and to financially support young talent from professional and university-level schools in the Canton of Ticino. In the 2026 edition of the award, celebrated on 9 May, Lorenzo Varese, a graduate of the Master in Software and Data Engineering, won in the "USI Faculty of Informatics" category. In the "USI Academy of Architecture" category, the award went to Keon Ho Lee. Sasha Toscano (informatics) and Elena Bisaglia (architecture) were also recognised, securing the TALENTICINO USI Scholarship.

Lorenzo Varese completed his Master in Software and Data Engineering with a thesis titled "Supporting the Replicability of Empirical Asset-Pricing Techniques", supervised by Prof. Gabriele Bavota of the Software Institute. The thesis addresses the replicability of empirical asset-pricing techniques in financial markets and proposes practical methods to standardise and simplify the replicability of experiments in this highly specialised field.

The Premio-USI Master in the category Academy of Architecture was awarded to Keon Ho Lee, a graduate of the Master in Architecture, for his thesis "Sport City Seixal". Sport City Seixal is a public sports facility in the southern valley of Seixal, Portugal. The project aims to introduce a dedicated sports structure to a neighbourhood lacking collective spaces, which is mostly underutilised due to its steep topography.

The prize awarded to Lorenzo Varese and Keon Ho Lee amounts to CHF 1,000 each.

Additionally, Sasha Toscano, a graduate of the Bachelor in Informatics, and Elena Bisaglia, a graduate of the Bachelor in Architecture, were awarded the TALENTICINO Scholarship. This CHF 3,000 grant is aimed at deserving graduates of a USI Bachelor's degree in informatics or architecture—of Swiss or foreign nationality—who plan to continue their studies to obtain a Master's degree in Switzerland and are enrolled for the 2026/2027 academic year.

Representing USI, Elena Starke, a graduate of the Master in Architecture, and Claudio Ricci, a graduate of the Master in Informatics , were also recognised for the Best Presentations. The award ceremony was attended on behalf of USI by Prof. Riccardo Blumer, Director of the Academy of Architecture, and Mauro Prevostini, Programme Manager of the Faculty of Informatics.

The jury of the PREMIOSWISSENGINEERINGTICINO Foundation used the candidate evaluation management platform developed by the CodeLounge research centre of USI's Software Institute.