Master U.Rise - Università Iuav di Venezia

What Master U.Rise - Università Iuav di Venezia does

Master U.Rise is a second-level university Master's program in Urban Regeneration and Social Innovation hosted by Università Iuav di Venezia, one of Italy's three public universities dedicated to architecture, urban planning, and design. Launched in 2016 and now in its 10th edition, the program trains post-graduate students, young professionals, and practitioners in the theory and practice of regenerating urban spaces through socially innovative approaches. The curriculum is delivered through a combination of academic teaching, applied field projects with municipal and nonprofit partners, and international study contexts that currently include Barcelona, Berlin, and Bordeaux. Core partners such as LAMA Impresa Sociale, Sherpa srl, Comune di Savona, and Kallipolis APS provide applied learning environments and live project pipelines.

The program is delivered at the Iuav campus at Palazzo Badoer in Venice and is run by a small core team of 7 employees under director Ezio Micelli, vice-director Elena Ostanel, and coordinators Lucio Rubini and Marika Moscatelli. Each edition enrolls roughly 30 students at a tuition price point of €4,000 plus a €50 application fee, with selective admissions and a cohort-based, project-driven pedagogy. The program has produced 300+ alumni since inception, with 85% of graduates reporting a positive career impact.

The business model is a non-profit academic offering embedded within the public Università Iuav di Venezia. Revenue is derived primarily from student tuition fees and supplemented by philanthropic grants from foundations such as Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione De Mari. There is no external venture or private-equity funding. Recent strategic activity has focused on deepening applied partnerships, broadening international field contexts, and participating in EU-funded urban-innovation projects such as EUREKA via MeltingPro, with an 11th edition scheduled for March 2027.

Name

Master U.Rise - Università Iuav di Venezia

Legal name

Università Iuav di Venezia

Website

https://urise.it

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Master U.Rise is a second-level university Master's program in Urban Regeneration and Social Innovation hosted by Università Iuav di Venezia, delivering a cohort-based curriculum to roughly 30 post-graduate students per year since 2016.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Master's Education

NAICS

Educational Services (611)

akta.pro primary industry

Faculty-Led Study Tours & Embedded Short Programs (Home Institution-Led) (EDAIAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

STEM, Digital Literacy & Maker Education Nonprofits (BPAGADAG)

Keywords

• Urban regeneration education
• Social innovation training
• Professional master's program
• University master's degree
• Experiential learning programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Venice

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Tuition fees: Master program tuition fee of €4,000.00 per student, plus €50.00 application fee.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Master U.Rise is a second-level university Master's program at Università Iuav di Venezia that trains professionals in urban and territorial regeneration and social innovation. The program combines classroom instruction with experiential fieldwork modules in Italian and international cities, and operates the Colibrì collaborative newsletter as a knowledge-sharing platform for the broader U.Rise community.

Product overview

Master U.Rise is a single unified educational program — a second-level university Master's degree in Urban Regeneration and Social Innovation offered by Università Iuav di Venezia. The program does not consist of multiple software products or modules but is structured as a comprehensive academic curriculum that includes classroom instruction, fieldwork modules in various Italian and international cities (Bari, Torino, Bordeaux, Florence Mountain areas), and professional skills training in fundraising, communication, audience development, and facilitation techniques. The program also features a collaborative newsletter called 'Colibrì' as a supplementary communication and knowledge-sharing platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Colibrì: Collaborative newsletter of the U.Rise community covering projects and initiatives related to urban regeneration and social innovation
• U.Rise Lab

Products and services

• Master in Rigenerazione Urbana e Innovazione Sociale (U.Rise) A second-level university Master's program (Master universitario di secondo livello) training professionals in urban and territorial regeneration and social innovation. The program combines experiential teaching, fieldwork modules in various Italian and international cities, and interdisciplinary collaboration with over 300 graduates forming a professional community. Open to graduates holding a II level university degree or equivalent.

Quantifiable outcome

• 85% of students report positive career impact one year after completing the Master

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Fondazione Compagnia di San PaolominorOthers · 1 January 2025Through the SparkZ 'Giovani che attivano' grant program, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo supported the Brucia Festival in Savona, an initiative connected to U.Rise community members.
• Fondazione De MariminorOthers · 1 January 2025Fondazione De Mari co-sponsored the Brucia Festival in Savona alongside the SparkZ grant from Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo.
• Comune di SavonaminorOthers · 1 January 2025The Municipality of Savona granted patronage to the Brucia Festival, an inaugural cultural event organized by Associazione Fiammiferi with connections to the U.Rise community.
• Associazione FiammiferiminorOthers · 1 January 2025A team of young professionals (under 30) who organized the Brucia Festival in Savona. After studies elsewhere, they returned to their hometown to create cultural alternatives, connected to the U.Rise community ethos.
• LAMA Impresa SocialecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLAMA Impresa Sociale serves as one of two mentors coordinating the Master U.Rise 9 design project. They also acted as co-organizer of the C'è Margine national coordination event and as implementing body for the PNRR Bando Borghi project in the Montagna Fiorentina area.
• Sherpa srlcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSherpa srl is one of the two mentors coordinating the Master U.Rise 9 design project, providing design thinking and project management expertise alongside LAMA Impresa Sociale.
• Aip2 — Associazione Italiana per la Partecipazione PubblicaminorOthersAip2 promotes the Carta della Partecipazione Pubblica (Public Participation Charter), used within the U.Rise intensive module on public participation held in Santarcangelo di Romagna.
• Kallipolis APSminorOthersKallipolis APS, a non-profit association for sustainable urban development, coordinates the LaRU (Laboratorio di Rigenerazione Urbana) project in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a research-action model on culture and urban regeneration.
• Regione autonoma Friuli Venezia GiuliaminorOthersFunded the LaRU project (fifth edition) under L.R. 16/2014, supporting urban regeneration research-action in six Friuli Venezia Giulia localities.
• MeltingProminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMeltingPro co-led the Italian cluster of the EUREKA European project, working with Università IUAV on the Giudecca Paradaìs initiative exploring urban regeneration on the Giudecca island in Venice.
• CoCreiamominorOthersCoCreiamo is an association promoting feminist urban planning in collaborative and ecological ways. They organized the 'Bambinə in viaggio' event within the I.TA.CÀ Festival, working with U.Rise on inclusive urban design.
• Laboratorio di Città Corviale (Università di Roma Tre)minorOthersUniversity research laboratory focused on urban regeneration and social inclusion at the Corviale district in Rome. Featured in Colibrì as a reference model for U.Rise students.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• University of Glasgow - Urban Studies: UK university with urban studies and planning programs at master's level. Emerging player in European urban planning education with comparable interdisciplinary scope to U.Rise.
• Wageningen University - Urbanism: Dutch university offering urbanism programs with sustainability and landscape focus. Comparable niche in urban planning education with interdisciplinary environmental perspective.

Direct peers

• Politecnico di Milano: Italy's top polytechnic offering master's programs in Urban Planning, Architecture, and related fields. Directly competes for Italian postgraduate students interested in urban regeneration careers and has substantially larger brand and faculty resources than IUAV's U.Rise.
• Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna: Major Italian public university with established master's programs in urban planning, architecture, and social sciences. Comparable for second-level master's structure and Italian postgraduate audience, though broader and more generalist than U.Rise.
• Politecnico di Torino: Italian polytechnic offering second-level master's in urban planning, architecture, and territorial engineering. Comparable structure and target audience as Master U.Rise; competes for the same pool of Italian graduates pursuing urban-focused careers.
• UCL Development Planning Unit (DPU): UCL's interdisciplinary unit offering master's programs that combine urban planning, social development, and participatory design. Highly comparable for the interdisciplinary urban regeneration and social innovation curriculum focus.
• University of Amsterdam - Urban Studies: Offers interdisciplinary urban studies master's programs blending social sciences with urban analysis. Comparable for the interdisciplinary urban/social focus and field-based learning approach of U.Rise.

Broad incumbents

• ETH Zurich - Department of Architecture: Top-ranked European technical university offering master's programs in Architecture and Urban Design. Broader incumbent with significantly larger research funding and global brand recognition.
• TU Delft - Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment: Leading European technical university with comprehensive MSc programs in Urbanism, Architecture, and the Built Environment. Broader incumbent in urban planning education with significantly larger scale and research output.
• University of Manchester - Urban Studies: Russell Group UK university with established urban studies and planning master's programs. Broader incumbent in urban planning education with substantially larger scale and international student base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/MasterURISE
• Instagraminstagram.com/_u.rise
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/school/master-u-rise

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Master U.Rise - Università Iuav di Venezia