On May 29, the Junior enterprises at Instituto Superior Técnico (Junitec) won the first edition of Hackathome organised by the Lisbon City Hall and the tech business incubator Startup Lisboa. The event brought together multidisciplinary teams to develop a digital solution in 24 hours that would respond to the challenge proposed: to present a solution to the problem of about 48,000 empty houses in Lisbon.

Junitec’s proposal has been the creation of a blockchain-based platform “where owners can list their empty houses, including their features, and where investors have the opportunity to acquire parts of the house,” explains Vera Silva, Junitec representative.

The money invested will be used for the rehabilitation of the houses. When the houses are leased or sold, the amount of money resulting from the transaction reverts to the investors and the owner. The division of the houses through the blockchain-based platform allows to make an incorruptible digital registration, ensuring the reliability of data and the division of the different parts (or tokens).

Listing a property is as simple as registering a house for sale on any platform. The only difference is that there is a validation process. Making a property investment is also easy. After a brief analysis of the selected house, the interested parties just have to choose how many parts they want to purchase and proceed with the transaction.

Creating bold projects is part of Junitec’s DNA as the team try “to participate in initiatives like this one that promote the creation of new innovative ideas, capable of creating value for society”, explains Vera Silva. “The Junitec team is very proud with this award. We want to congratulate Lourenço Ponces, Vicente Mendes, Pedro Rodrigues, Luís Parra and Maria Oliveira for accepting this challenge”, she adds.

Junitec received a monetary prize of 7,000€. The next steps include a meeting with the Lisbon City Hall and StartUp Lisboa to explore the options for the creation of a pilot project.