For the second consecutive year, the Técnico alumnus Luís Rita was considered one of the top talents under the age of 25, by ISFA Network. Last year, the Técnico alumnus won the “Top Talents Under 25” award, in the digital category, and this year he is part of IFSA 25 Under 25 class of 2021.
“I am very proud of being distinguished as one of the 40 top young talents in the world under 25 years old in 2020, and to be part of IFSA 25 Under 25 class of 2021”, shares Luís Rita. “Being on this list alongside 24 more young people involved in projects with a global impact and genuinely interested in improving the lives of those around them gives a sense of belonging”, adds the alumnus.
According to Luís Rita, this award is mainly due to the link between academia and industry that has guided his career. “There is a significant difference between the goals of academia and industry. While the first one has a great focus on innovation, the second one focuses on rapid development and short-term benefits”, says Luís Rita. “There is a strong correlation between my PhD in Computational Medicine at Imperial College London and CycleAI, which ended up making it easier to reconcile these two activities. Artificial Intelligence is the basis of both projects” he highlights.
The ISFA initiative had an overwhelming number of applications from brilliant individuals across the globe. The text that accompanies the list of award winners states “These 25 young achievers, through their diverse endeavours in a multitude of domains, have successfully carved a unique place for themselves. Their stories of success reflect the passion and tireless effort that went behind what they have achieved today. These are people who went beyond doing just the bare minimum, people who treaded the path less travelled by”,”,
A year full of achievements
2020 turned out to be a very important year to Luís Rita. The Técnico alumnus completed his MSc degree in Biomedical Research (Data Science) at Imperial College London and he created a promising startup – CycleAI, together with Miguel Peliteiro, “who heard about my master’s thesis related to mapping of cycling risk. He has had a bicycle accident recently and I was working on a solution to make them more unlikely, so we decided to create CycleAI”, recalls the alumnus.
Cycle.AI won the Prémio Nacional da “Mobilidade em Bicicleta” (Portuguese Bicycle Mobility Award), in the Innovation category, awarded by the Portuguese Federation of Cycletourism and Bicycle Users (FPCUB).
