A study commissioned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation showed that by 2040 Portugal will have severe water scarcity problems. Having this is mind, a group of young entrepreneurs teamed up and decided to start designing an idea that would have an impact on water savings in the agricultural sector – which is responsible for 75% of the total water used in Portugal. The “Smart Homies” team, made up of 3 students from Técnico and 1 student from ISCTE, won the 1st award at the Young Entrepreneurs National Competition, in the “Creative Entrepreneurship” category, and a special award.

The project developed by the Técnico students Duarte Casanova, Francisco Oliveira and Gonçalo Gato, and the ISCTE student João Almeida, consists of a prototype, easy to implement, that optimizes and regulates the use of water in vegetable plots and agricultural fields. “A network of sensing and control systems, controlled by Arduino, will check the amount of water that the plant really needs and only that water quantity is discharged”, explains Francisco Oliveira. “The data collection is sent to a server that allows the user to access an app that shows the crop quality and the system status”, adds the Técnico student.

The competition, organised by Fundação da Juventude, went entirely online. In total, 48 teams competed for the awards in two categories – “creative entrepreneurship” and “social entrepreneurship”.

In addition to winning the 1st award (amounting to €1000), the “Smart Homies” team won the special award of the competition that gives access to 1 year of incubation and to a Co-Working space at Co-Work space NIDE- Ninhos de Empresa.

Francisco Oliveira believes that the project stood out because the prototype “solves a real and necessary problem for the well-being of the population”. “We usually take water for granted, but the current state of climate and environment is a major concern. It is our duty to do everything in our power to solve the situation, and this prototype is a step in the right direction”, stresses the student.

The multidisciplinary team, which includes students from different fields of engineering: Mechanical Engineering (Francisco Oliveira and Gonçalo Gato), Environmental Engineering (Duarte Casanova), and Computer Engineering (João Almeida) is now in the most critical phase of the project: the prototyping. “We have a lot of work ahead of us and a lot of challenges to face. The only certainty we have is that we are and we will always be committed to work for a better world”, says Francisco Oliveira.