The final phase of the 7th edition of TecStorm took place from 14th to 16th April, at the Champalimaud Foundation. The event is organised by the Junior Enterprises at Instituto Superior Técnico (Junitec) and consists of a “technological marathon that supports young entrepreneurship and the development of ideas capable of generating an impact on society”. This year’s edition brought together 28 teams that competed in four categories: Connectivity, Energy, Health and, for the first time in this competition, Fintech.
This year’s edition had more than 600 participants enrolled – mainly from the Lisbon region – but only 111 reached this phase. They are competing for the best project in each of the four categories; best pitch and best prototype.
The largest university hackathon in the country included, for the first time, an open day. About 300 people attended the event. At the opening session, Pedro Amaral, Vice-president of Técnico, praised the initiative and recalled his participation “in the path of 33 years of Junitec”. Pedro Garcia da Silva, scientific coordinator at the Champalimaud Foundation, stated “this type of event fits the role” of the institution and “listening to young people is important”. According to Ana Matos, president of Junitec, “TecStorm proposes solutions”, as “technology must be used for the good of society”.
In seven years, more than 200 projects have been created in the scope of this competition. Registrations for TecStorm can be done individually or as a group. Transport, accommodation, food and technical material is ensured by the organisation, says Margarida Santos, project manager of TecStorm 2023 and member of Junitec.
The winning projects were the eco-friendly solution for water conservation created by Watr (Energy); the DoseIT pill dispenser (Health); the smart wristband for monitoring personal health developed by Santri (Connectivity), and the LegalAID platform (Fintech).
Several Técnico students participated in the competition. The winning teams included Sofia Morais and Joana Mendes (DoseIT), Manuel Barros and João Rocha (LegalAID) and Beatriz Rodrigues, Afonso Cruz, Luis Castillo, Alda Pereira and Sofia Barbeiro (Watr).
