07-02-2024
Simon Coen, Juliette Oyharcabal and Gabriel Ávila, students on the Master's programme in Advanced Materials and Innovative Recycling at NOVA FCT, were the winners of the Tapojärvi Innovation Challenge for Students.
The three students, who completed the first year of their master's at NOVA FCT and are currently in their second year at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, presented an innovative project to use a mixture of industrial ash and wood chips to purify air and water. The team stood out among the 29 competing, made up of 71 students of 43 different nationalities from 22 universities in 14 countries.
The event demonstrated an exceptional level of dedication and passion on the part of the next generation of innovators. The main focus of this competition was to turn waste into valuable resources and promote circular economy solutions.
This competition was made possible through EIT RawMaterials' Open Innovation Challenges initiative, which connects students, companies and startups across Europe. It serves as a platform to unleash new ideas and innovation, leading the raw materials industry towards a greener and more circular future.
The 2023 edition of the competition, co-organised by Tapojarvi and EIT Raw Materials, took place in Tornio, Finland, at the end of the year.
