09-03-2021
For the first time in the online format, the Grand Final of the Entrepreneurship course at the NOVA School of Science and Technology had around 1,000 participants and the largest number of monetary prizes ever.
In a total of 180 projects, developed by 954 students, 12 were awarded with values between 100 and 5000 euros. The multidisciplinary teams had, during five weeks, mentoring sessions and space to understand and implement the process of creating and materializing an idea.
The students were accompanied by 19 Professors, who started mentoring in December 2020 and practical classes between 10 February and 5 March 2021. About 60 representatives from the business, academic, and NOVA ecosystem sectors of entrepreneurship were involved as mentors throughout the course and were present to evaluate the 12 best Elevator Pitches of this edition.
ParkinsonAISmeller, a team formed by Diogo Trinchante (Chemistry ), Daniel Miranda (Chemistry), Tânia Matos (Biomedical Engineering), André Rosado (Chemistry) and Diogo Mota (Industrial Engineering and Management), were the big winners. The students won the first prize of 5,000 euros with the development of an early method of detecting parkinson's, through an electronic nose.
The second place, with a prize of 3,500 euros, went to the ReCOVER team. Sofia Martins (Biomedical Engineering), Matilde Lopes (Biomedical Engineering), Francisco Seabra (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Ana Luís (Biomedical Engineering) and Miguel Lopes (Electrical and Computer Engineering), created smart sanitary pads capable of identifying the first signs of infection of a wound.
Luna Lochmatter (Micro and Nanotechnology Engineering), Tomás Pereira (Micro and Nanotechnology Engineering), Maria Justino (Biomedical Engineering), Joana Jorge (Biomedical Engineering) and Ricardo Castelhano (Biomedical Engineering) won the third prize worth 2500 euros. The ironMEDE team presented the biosensor for screening iron in the body, a solution that aims to support people with anemia.
47Care was the team that won the Glintt award, with the proposal of a new test for sexually transmitted diseases that allows the detection of three common diseases through a simpler method.
“10 years ago, with the creation of this chair, we realized we had to change to guarantee the success of our students. It is the soft skills that promote the student's openness to the world in all its dimensions. And although we never intended to create in students the ability to create their own jobs, with this program, we have already helped several students to create startups,” said Virgilio Cruz Machado, Dean of the NOVA School of Science and Technology in the closing words of the session.
This year, the Entrepreneurship course had the support and patronage of the following companies EY, Jerónimo Martins, ASSECO, SANTANDER, INTROSYS, Glintt, inNova, and Spark Agency. This program is part of the NOVA Tech Ship, which brings together all the activities and opportunities for entrepreneurship at the NOVA School of Science and Technology.
