Gabriele Caliandro Wins Second Place in National ISIPM Project Management Prize

Gabriele Caliandro, a recent graduate in Management Engineering from the University of Salento, secured second place in the national competition organized by the Istituto Italiano di Project Management (ISIPM) for the most outstanding thesis in Project Management. His award‑winning thesis, “Project Management as a Strategic Lever in Innovative Start‑ups: An Adaptive Framework for VUCA Environments – The BionIT Labs Case Study,” examines how agile project‑management methods can drive growth and innovation in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments, using the biomedical start‑up BionIT Labs as a case study. The work was supervised by Professor Valentina Ndou and developed in collaboration with Andrea Accogli, PMP and PMO Director of BionIT Labs. The university highlighted the achievement as a testament to its high‑quality education and its emphasis on linking research with industry.

The ISIPM jury praised the thesis for combining scientific rigor with practical application, noting its potential to help start‑ups adopt adaptable project‑management frameworks.