09-04-2024
In addition to the winning team, António Pegado and João Amorim, also from NOVA FCT, received an honourable mention for their proposal "Smart Recycling". This team aims to develop an advanced bin collector to separate waste in an automatic manner. During the Circular InNOVA(tion) program, Smart recycling focused their efforts on developing an educational solution where individuals can learn how to recycle more and better using gamification methods.
Other honourable mentions went to Bin it to Win, a platform that aims to analyse the level of recycling in different neighbourhoods to promote community involvement, and Trash4Goods, which presented an innovative AI chatbot that aims to solve questions and queries about recycling.
The Circular InNOVA(tion) Program, launched in November by NOVA and Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV), was designed to attract students with innovative projects to address specific challenges posed by SPV: How to devise a fair payment system linked to waste production? How to establish an on-demand waste management system? How to incentivize society to reduce waste while enhancing waste segregation?
During the first phase, four teams were chosen. In the subsequent phase of the program, these teams engaged in workshops covering specialized topics and received personalized mentorship to refine their prototypes.
The final presentations underwent evaluation by a panel of judges comprising Luísa Pinheiro, Director of Regulation and Compliance at Sociedade Ponto Verde, Paula Guedes, Researcher at NOVA FCT, and Integrated Member of CENSE, and Hélder Lopes, Director for Research and Innovation at NOVA.
All showcased projects were deemed highly promising and will continue to benefit from ongoing support and guidance from NOVA as they advance in their development.
