Campus and Community

Técnico Students develop innovative solutions to real challenges faced by villages in the countryside

On 24 January, the Engineering and Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship master’s students presented innovative solutions to real challenges faced by the village of Penha Garcia. The session was attended by the Mayor of Idanha-a-Nova, Armindo Jacinto, and the president of Técnico, Rogério Colaço.

The students, divided into four groups, developed proposals that include: a solution, aimed at families, digital nomads and entrepreneurs, that allows them to experience a different lifestyle by spending some time in Penha Garcia; a gamified local platform designed to promote sustainability and social engagement, with a non-digital branching component, allowing different audiences to participate; a virtual tour of hard-to-reach tourist spots aimed at people with reduced mobility and a digital inclusion project in retirement homes based on storytelling, with the aim of preserving memories while encouraging the use of new technologies and social networks.

The proposals included prototypes, in some cases already tested and with very promising results. The students also had to present the costs of implementation and demonstrate the financial viability of the ideas. Positively surprised by the quality of the projects developed in record time, Armindo Jacinto praised them all and challenged one of the groups to repeat the presentation at a national congress in Idanha-a-Nova. Rogério Colaço stressed the importance of the permanent dialog that the University must maintain with society. “Técnico is a public higher education institution whose mission is also to create knowledge and insert itself into the national territory”, he said.

The challenge set to this class was to think up and develop technology-based solutions to promote accessible tourism, foster sustainability actions, combat digital illiteracy and attract people to the region. The students chose the challenge they wanted to work on and, divided into four groups, set to work on their projects using various Design Thinking tools and dynamics.

An important part of these projects is understanding the context of the problems they want to solve. For this reason, the creative process included a four-day immersive experience in the village of Penha Garcia. The trip was supported by the Department of Engineering and Management (DEG) and accommodation and meals were provided by Idanha-a-Nova City Council. The programme included visits to various tourist attractions and local infrastructures, including the retirement home and the Senior University.

Visiting Penha Garcia allowed the students to get to know the region and the people, talk to the inhabitants and test out some ideas and then redefine the final solutions. About two months later, the Mayor of Idanha-a-Nova, Armindo Jacinto, together with those responsible for EduVillage, travelled to Instituto Superior Técnico to attend the presentation of the proposals in the classroom.

Every year, the Master in Engineering and Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MEGIE) master’s students are challenged to present technology-based solutions to solve a real-world problem brought to them by an entity outside Instituto Superior Técnico. This academic year, that task was assigned to EduVillage (a pilot project to revitalize the village of Penha Garcia). Located in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, Penha Garcia has been losing its increasingly aging population.