On the afternoon of October 23, the Técnico Innovation Center (TIC) hosted various unicorns and their Factory for the Entrepreneurship Awards 2025, one of the most significant national competitions in entrepreneurship.
Representing the entrepreneurial community of Instituto Superior Técnico were projects that had moved beyond the drawing board, including prototypes in testing phases and products nearing market launch.
Lampsy Health, a member of the IST Spin-Off community, won the ‘Most Promising Startup Award’ at the competition. The startup is just six months away from launching a lamp capable of automatically detecting epileptic seizures. This home-use device will also send real-time alerts to caregivers and emergency services and is currently being tested in several public hospitals within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Lampsy Health, which was born at Técnico, was first introduced at Lab2Market 2024.
The event not only recognised outstanding entrepreneurial projects but also brought together various entities associated with Técnico, which presented their initiatives to the community.
Additionally, the research group at the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB), led by Frederico Ferreira, showcased laboratory-grown sea bass fillets. The group, which has also produced beef steak, squid, and shrimp from animal biomass, continues their work in food bioprinting and has launched PRINT’N’EAT, which is now seeking investors to transition from a research project into a full-fledged company.
GTechPlasma is a startup that has already been granted eight patents. It focuses on producing high-quality graphene derivatives from plasma, which have applications in rare earth extraction, hydrogen absorption at room temperature, and electromagnetic shielding, as shared by Ana Amaral Dias and Bruno Soares Gonçalves, the CEO and CBO of the company, who are also researchers at Instituto Superior Técnico.
Huddle originated from Junitec – Junior Enterprises at Técnico, which launches three startups into the market each year. The Huddle software, designed for sports clubs, is currently being tested by four different clubs. It aims to simplify the daily operations of coaches and managers, especially at the youth level. Through Huddle, users can communicate with parents and guardians, share competition invitations, and keep track of payments, among other features. Huddle’s partners—Ana Rita Rodrigues, Tiago Romão, and Miguel Faustino— study at Técnico and balance their studies with their business activities.
The participating students’ organisations – ISTrain, PSEM, and AEROTÉC – expressed interest in establishing contacts and partnerships with other participants. ISTrain is preparing to start cleaning the space that will be its workshop, while the others are focused on building a solar-powered car that will use the bodywork of the previous model, and developing an autonomous drone (ATLAS Systems & Aeronautics), sending prototypes abroad through a partner company (ACEPilot).
