23-03-2020
The NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA) launches Beyond COVID19, an acceleration program that generates real solutions — at regional, national and international level— to the challenges created by the pandemic. The program is aimed at the Portuguese academic community and invites to think about the impact of Covid-19 in large areas of society such as economics, education and health.
Solutions for prevention and mitigation, for delivery of goods, for teleworking, for emotional and psychological support and for new digital forms of business - these are only some of the areas covered in the challenge, which is not a competition, underlines FCT NOVA, but “An active collaboration.”
The program consists of five phases: inspiration, creation of ideas, submission and selection, prototyping and, finally, testing and improvement. Passed the inspiration phase — which invites the community the sharing of problems and challenges in the forum — now takes place the idea creation phase and, soon, the submission and selection ones (until March 27). The ten most voted ideas will be selected for the logo to move towards the construction of a prototype, finally reaching the last phase: the application of the market and the public.
Everyone is invited to participate in an innovation challenge and an acceleration program, sharing ideas and opinions. All activities will take place in this space: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeyondCovid19/.
FCT Nova is also supporting #ProjectOpenAir. The project, launched by neuroscientist João Nascimento, intends to help stop the worldwide escalation of Covid-19 by creating fans that can be manufactured locally and in bulk.
