Campus and Community

E.Awards honours project by Técnico students that aims to use biotechnology to avoid food waste

The event included presentations by six finalist projects. From the role of artificial intelligence in teaching to sustainability, the innovation projects developed by Técnico students were showcased at the Técnico Innovation Centre powered by Fidelidade.

The innovation and entrepreneurship of Técnico students reached a new chapter on the evening of 3 July, with the final session of the 7th edition of the E.Awards@Tecnico, supported by Santander Portugal. Six student teams presented their projects to the jury in three-minute presentations, with a further five for questions and answers. The “Chroma Food” project developed by Isabela Campos and Laura Silva, Biological Engineering undergraduate students was the award winner. The idea involves using biotechnology and engineering to preserve and avoid food waste: a food storage container that uses nanotechnology. The nanofibrillated cellulose (CNF) in the polymer matrix, combined with a microencapsulation compound, makes it possible to incorporate an indicator that changes colour during food degradation.

The STARTE project, by the Materials Engineering students Carolina Carreira (Master’s Programme), Leonor Martins, Diogo Fernandes and Marta Pimenta (Undergraduate Programme), received an Honourable Mention sponsored by Armilar. The project aims to use a sustainable composite made from stone dust from Portuguese quarries to be used by national designers.

The EduAI project, developed by Francisco Nascimento, Luis Lopes, Tomás Santos and Filipe Tendeiro (Electrical and Computer Engineering master’s students), received an Honourable Mention with the support of Accenture. The project aims to transform education through the use of artificial intelligence tools.

Also finalists were the projects: DISIMA (Dominik-Luis Foster, Kai Tienarend and Bob Klepper – Master’s Programme in Civil Engineering), Elderly Active (José Sempere, Miguel Lourenço, Nuno Baptista, Hugo Rabuge, Francisco Matias and José Baptista – Undergraduate Programme in Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Coffee Loop (Rodrigo Cunha and Margarida Teixeira – Master’s Programme in Mechanical Engineering; Joana Delgado – Master’s Programme in Engineering and Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and João Fernandes – Master’s Programme in Computer Science and Engineering).

According to Pedro Amaral, vice-president of Técnico for Corporate Interface, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, this event demonstrates that Técnico, besides being a science, technology and engineering school, also has the capacity to “influence society, the economy and the market”. “By doing this, we show the impact we have and the innovation we do”, he says. “Our students don’t come here to win an award, but because they want to experiment. They’re going to step onto this stage and make a pitch. They’re going to dream and make us all dream that it’s possible to make a better world”, he added.

The E.Awards@Tecnico also included an exhibition with posters of the projects not selected for the final pitch and were competing for the “Best Poster by Accenture” award.
The Nanolitho and SandFlower project posters were the most voted for.

Cecília Rodrigues, a vice-rector of Universidade de Lisboa, emphasised the “incredible atmosphere” of the event. After asking the audience a few questions about the difficulty of supporting “ideas that can change the world”, she defended “Técnico makes a difference”. “Here we have the innovators, the entrepreneurial spirit and the partners. Técnico does this very well and shows us all how to do it. We have a lot to learn from what is done here”, she added.

Luís Caldas de Oliveira, a professor at Técnico and a member of the jury, highlighted the participation of students from different areas. “This is what Técnico is good at: people from different areas and they all present quality work,” he said.
The jury also included Pedro Andrade (Santander Portugal), Rodolfo Condessa (Armilar Venture Partners), Paula Fernandes (Accenture Portugal) and Gil Azevedo (StartUp Lisboa).

In this year’s edition, the best project won a prize worth 3,500 euros, the two honourable mentions a prize of 1,000 euros each and the best posters 500 euros.

Throughout seven editions, E.Awards@Tecnico has involved more than 200 students, received more than 100 applications and offered around 30,000 euros in prizes.

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