Call for Applications: EUTOPIA More – Student Innovation Challenge 2025
- Travel and accommodation expenses fully covered.
- Students with academic experience and/or a strong interest in linguistics are especially encouraged to apply.
On July 14th, the NOVA Rectorate hosted the Demo Day of the NOVA impACT! Challenges 2025 — an initiative promoted by the NOVA Impact Office to support innovative solutions with social and environmental impact, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Over three weeks, 33 students, organized into 10 multidisciplinary teams, took part in workshops, mentoring sessions, and prototype development. On Demo Day, they presented their solutions to a jury composed by Hélder Lopes (NOVA), Manuel Gaspar (Casa do Impacto), and Inês Petrucci (3xP Global).
The GeoCura team (NOVA FCT) won 1st place with a self-healing concrete capable of significantly reducing CO₂ emissions in the construction sector. The team was awarded €2,000 to continue developing their solution.
An honorable mention was given to EcoSeal (NOVA FCT + Nova SBE), which presented a DIY energy-saving kit that helps families identify and fix energy inefficiencies at home.
The remaining finalist teams presented proposals with a strong focus on innovation and sustainability:
All projects received an initial €500 grant to support prototype development.
[gallery columns="8" ids="11277,11279,11293,11297,11295,11309,11299,11301,11303,11305,11307,11311,11313,11289,11316,11318"]The 2024 edition of NOVA ImpAct! Challenges, the program created by the NOVA Impact office and Santander Universities, held its Demo Day this Wednesday, showcasing the best projects aimed at solving social and environmental problems. The winning teams each received a cash prize of €2,000 to further develop their projects.
Here are the winning teams:
Circular Foods from NOVA SBE: Circular Foods aims to reintegrate industrial food waste into a new portfolio of healthy and accessible food and beverage products. These products are designed for customers who struggle to find natural alternatives in the market, with a positive impact on both the planet and the community. The project stands out by prioritizing physical and mental health through natural, upcycled ingredients and offering competitive prices thanks to its circular business model. Team members: António Vidinha, Carolina Piloto, José Sarmento, Carlota Moura, and Carlos Morais.
[caption id="attachment_9682" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Circular Foods[/caption]
EnsinAI from NOVA IMS: EnsinAI empowers students with an AI-powered tutor and gamified platform that provides affordable and engaging education, addressing the shortage of teachers and the high cost of private tutoring. In one line: Quality, engaging, and fun education that is affordable. Team members: Lourenço Martins and Miguel Neto.
[caption id="attachment_9684" align="aligncenter" width="640"] EnsinAI [/caption]
Honourable Mentions:
Sangue.PT from NOVA ENSP: Sangue.PT aims to develop an app for efficient blood management to reduce waste and increase blood donations. It incentivizes blood donors through tailored appeals based on geolocation and current blood type needs. The digital platform also supports education and maintains medical records. Team members: Ana Beatriz, Ana Silva, Elisa Bucho, Francisco Ferreira Pinto, and Gonçalo Lobo.
[caption id="attachment_9686" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Sangue.PT[/caption]
DentAR Kids from NOVA ENSP: DentAR Kids offers a solution to alleviate children's fear of visiting the dentist. It includes an app to familiarize them with procedures before consultations and augmented reality glasses during consultations to make the experience less frightening. This approach improves treatment effectiveness, saves time and materials for clinics, enhances working conditions, and provides children with a better overall experience and oral health. Team members: Amância Trindade, Mafalda Almeida, and Carolina Santos.
[caption id="attachment_9688" align="aligncenter" width="640"] DentAR Kids[/caption]
The jury included Isabel Rocha (Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation, and Value Creation at NOVA), Nuno Comando (Director of Entrepreneurship and Social Investment at Casa do Impacto), Bárbara Leão (Impact Investments Manager at 3XP Global), and Nuno Simões (Head of Santander Universities).
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]The 2024 edition of the Starters Academy, a pioneer in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the student community and provides basic tools for those who want to create a startup, has reached its final challenge.
On the demo day of this year's programme, which was attended by 28 participants divided into 8 teams, the jury first awarded the prize to the project named Micdrop, which aims to detect and block the use of unauthorised voices, making it the winner of the edition. The team made up of Daniel Fortunato from NOVA FCSH, Jorge Morán from NOVA IMS, Paula Duarte from NOVA School of Law and Ricardo Miranda from NOVA FCSH was the winner, presenting a solution to a problem that is very much on the agenda: With the rise of AI, artists are at risk of having their voices used without their consent - and what Micdrop offers is a secure and proactive system to protect and manage that use.
But that's not all: made up of NOVA's Vice Rector Pedro Saraiva, Rodolfo Condessa from Armilar and António Dias Martins from Startup Portugal, the jury also gave honourable mentions to two other equally inspiring projects. The first was the project by the team of Luca Schmidt from Nova SBE, Renato Ramos from NOVA IMS, and Rita Galhardo from NOVA FCT. Called DormDash, their proposal aims to transform the student real estate market, responding to students looking for affordable accommodation and landlords looking for trustworthy tenants by implementing a platform that simplifies the entire process.
The second honourable mention went to the Jetaway project, presented by the team of João Medeiros from NOVA School of Law, Mariana Meneses from NOVA FCSH, and Muhammad Abdullah from NOVA IMS. In this case, it is about reducing the use of private jets without passengers other than the owner, proposing to reduce the monetary and environmental costs of these trips by selling tickets to other passengers.
All the information about the programme is available here.
The students come from different Academic Units (NOVA FCSH, NOVA IMS, NOVA FCT, and NOVA School of Law) and are already working together to develop solutions that can truly transform the energy landscape by giving new life to used batteries.
Out of the more than 70 students who applied to the WISE programme - launched by the NOVA Impact Office with the support of GALP - 35 were selected to work together to develop the most innovative response to one of the most complex problems facing the world today.
Officially launched on Monday, March 11th, WISE is part of the protocol agreed between GALP and NOVA for the creation of NIRC (NOVA Interdisciplinary Research Community) to foster collaboration within the NOVA community and innovation to address emerging challenges in sustainable energy systems.
For approximately 12 weeks, the selected teams will focus on the following challenges: second-life batteries (including the supply and use of batteries), shared energy storage in energy communities, energy storage for negotiation and arbitration of energy and systems, alternative energy storage options (in addition to chemical batteries).
As well as addressing the challenges posed by GALP, the WISE programme aims to provide a unique learning experience for students, encourage collaboration between different disciplines and stimulate innovation in the energy field.
The winning team will receive all-expenses-paid tickets to the European Innovation Academy, an exclusive opportunity to shadow at GALP, and a NOVA LinkedIn badge.
A pioneer in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship among its student community, the Starters Academy was designed to stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit of students and provide the essential tools for anyone who wants to create a startup.
In addition, the Starters Academy programme is led by a panel of expert mentors and trainers who are recognised in the field and provide invaluable guidance.
Since its inception, hundreds of students have benefited from this hands-on approach to entrepreneurship, and many have successfully launched their businesses.
Now there is another opportunity for anyone interested in developing an existing project or improving their entrepreneurial skills.
Registrations must be made through this link by 2 February 2024.
Circular In(NOVA)tion is a program dedicated to attracting students with innovative projects to address specific challenges posed by Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV).
The initiative addresses key challenges for SPV, such as creating a fair pay-as-you-throw system, establishing an "on-demand" waste management system, and encouraging society to reduce waste while promoting better separation.
During the kick-off meeting on November 17th, participants and the SPV team discussed the intricacies of packaging management, presented challenges, and addressed doubts. The teams also engaged in a session on 'How to make an impactful pitch,' aiming to captivate the jury's interest in the potential of their ideas and the chance to advance to the next phase.
Four projects have progressed to the second phase, ongoing until March 2024.
Each selected team has received €1000 to further develop their projects in collaboration with SPV partners. The teams also benefit from dedicated mentoring from NOVA and access to specialized workshops covering critical project development topics.
Stay tuned for more updates!
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure="1_2,1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="https://novainnovation.unl.pt/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/202-PH-NIMAGENS-nicole_sanchez.jpg" title_text="NOVA CI" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]Smart Recycling introduced the Smart Bin, a user-centric container incorporating AI and a delta robot for efficient waste identification and separation. Users are incentivized through the Smart App, ensuring a fast and reliable recycling experience while also encouraging education and behaviour change.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure="1_2,1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="https://novainnovation.unl.pt/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/208-PH-NIMAGENS-nicole_sanchez-1.jpg" title_text="NOVA CI" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]Resíduos na Linha that aims to install mass and volume sensors with RFID technology in existing recycling bins. By collecting individual recycling data, the goal is to implement a Pay-As-You-Throw system.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure="1_2,1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="https://novainnovation.unl.pt/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/198-PH-NIMAGENS-nicole_sanchez.jpg" title_text="NOVA CI" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]Bin it to Win it that aims to establish a recycling platform that monitors and celebrates individual and community recycling accomplishments, promoting sustainable practices and community engagement in environmental conservation.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure="1_2,1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="https://novainnovation.unl.pt/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/195-PH-NIMAGENS-nicole_sanchez.jpg" alt="Trash 4 Goods" title_text="Trash 4 Goods" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_2" _builder_version="4.23.4" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.24.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" sticky_enabled="0"]The Trash4Goods team is gamifying waste recycling to encourage user participation. Stay tuned for more on how they're making recycling both enjoyable and rewarding, contributing to a circular economy.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]Officially launched in June 2019, CellmAbs is one of the official spin-offs recognized by NOVA and has already raised a significant first round of investment that will allow it to develop a new class of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. The entire investment has now been acknowledged by Portugal Ventures.
"Recognition of the work done by the companies in which we invest is extremely important, as it shows that we continue to believe in their businesses and encourages the rest of the portfolio to achieve their goals," said Rui Ferreira, President of Portugal Ventures, in announcing the awards. "For us, it is also a thank you for choosing us as an investment partner who is present in good times and bad, and who believes in the success of these start-ups daily".
In total, Portugal Ventures, the venture capital company of the Banco Português de Fomento Group, awarded 11 prizes to the start-ups in its investment portfolio that stood out during 2023 - two of which went to NOVA University Lisbon spin-off CellmAbs.
In addition to the 2023 Revelation Start-up Award, for being the company that stood out the most in the portfolio of each business unit during the year, CellmAbs also received the 2023 Health Technologies Start-up Award - which recognizes its positioning and development from a global market perspective, taking into account the product, its internal capabilities, progress towards the market and the attraction of partners and investors.
To determine the winners of this edition - which you can read in full here - Portugal Ventures relied on the collaboration of a group of personalities who work every day in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: António Grilo, from the National Innovation Agency; Luís Guerreiro, from IAPMEI; Pedro Silveira, from AICEP; Carlos Abade, from Turismo de Portugal; Manuel Caldeira Cabral, from Startup Portugal; Conceição Zagalo, from the Corporate Citizenship Reflection and Support Group (GRACE); Cristina Campos, investor; Marcelo Lebre, from Remote; Isabel Neves, investor; and Vanda Jesus, from iCapital.
On the 6th of December, NOVA University Lisbon held its first NOVA Interdisciplinary Research Communities (NIRC) Workshop, focusing on Sustainable Energy Systems.
This event aimed to be a kick-off in the promotion of interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation on Sustainable Energy Systems at NOVA, underlining the University's commitment to addressing the challenges of this topic.
The event, organized by the Research and Innovation Support Division, featured a workshop led by Professor Guilherme Victorino and his team at the NOVA Innovation & Analytics Lab, with the active participation of 24 researchers from 6 academic units.
To foster collaboration within the NOVA community, and innovation to address emerging challenges in sustainable energy systems, participants were encouraged to form teams to develop collaborative ideas in different knowledge areas.
Highlighting the institution's commitment to dynamic and collaborative research, Professor Isabel Rocha, Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation, and Value Creation at NOVA, graced the event with her presence and emphasized the importance of the initiative for the future of impactful research at the university.
Five prominent members of Galp, NOVA’s partner in this NIRC, including João Ribeiro and Manuel Andrade from the Open Innovation team, and Inês Marques, Pedro Ferreira, and Ioana Ratiu, Galp experts in the workshop's thematic areas, played a key role in this event, by presenting some of the energetic challenges for the future, with vibrant participation of all members in the discussion rounds following the presentations.
A second workshop has already been scheduled for the 17th of January 2024, at the Innovation & Analytics Laboratory of NOVA IMS - NOVA Campolide Campus.
To know more about the NIRC on Sustainable Energy Systems, please visit our dedicated website
Join the NIRC excitement and do not miss out on the thrilling activities coming your way!
In 2023, NOVA University Lisbon launched the Research Impact Narratives Challenge, inviting professors and researchers affiliated to any of the university's academic units to translate the impact of their research projects into narratives.
Considering that it is imperative that society at large understands and appreciates the results of research activities, and that innovation funding agencies at both national and European level are placing increasing emphasis on measuring the impact of projects under development, the Research Impact Narratives Challenge was the format chosen to enable NOVA researchers to do so.
The winners were announced at the NOVA Science and Innovation Day, and the 6 winning projects come from a wide range of research areas:
Catarina Barreira, from the NOVA FCSH Institute of Medieval Studies, presented a reflection on the liturgical books produced at the Alcobaça Monastery. The project, which will provide new insights into the history, relationships and changes in the rituals of one of the first Cistercian monastic foundations built in Portugal, aims to contribute to the creation of training courses for tourist guides and the improvement of guided tours of the monastery.
Luís Crespo de Andrade, researcher at the NOVA FCSH Humanities Centre (CHAM), presented an analysis of the Revista Ideias e Culturas (RIC) portal, which provides universal and indexed access to influential magazines from the 20th century. The RIC has more than 100,000 users and was awarded last year in the Ler+ Awards, as proof of its importance in promoting modern cultural heritage and humanities research.
Maria de Lurdes Rosa, also a professor at the Institute of Medieval Studies at NOVA FCSH, submitted the project "Family Archives, Community Archives", in which she pointed out that, contrary to the situation in most European countries, family archives in Portugal are poorly described and studied. Considering that history suffers from this absence, the work has had an immediate impact on the availability of valuable archives that were previously unknown - and has even taken on an international dimension, winning a grant from the European Research Council.
Mauro Castelli, researcher at the NOVA Information Management School, was the author of the paper "An Artificial Intelligence (AI) system for detecting and preventing online gambling addiction". It is an AI-based system developed to identify common behavioural patterns among Portuguese online gamblers, highlighting actions that may pose a risk to the user.
Miguel de Castro Neto, currently director of the NOVA Information Management School, presented a work developed by the NOVA Cidade laboratory. Called Smart Region, it is a territorial analysis platform that aims to change the paradigm of data-based public policies. Using data science and geographic information systems, it tells how the inter-municipal community of the West is already enjoying the benefits of being a Smart Region.
Tatiana Morais, from the Centre for Research & Development on Law and Society (CEDIS) at the NOVA School of Law, is the author of "Contributing to the improvement of the legal framework for Sexual and Gender Violence in Portugal", which focuses on the introduction of legislation in the Portuguese Labour Code to combat sexual harassment in the workplace through the adoption of a code of conduct - with a consequent redefinition of what constitutes a crime in this context, and shows the positive impact on survivors of sexual harassment and rape.
The papers are all published in detail in the magazine NOVA Science 2023, which you can read here.
Portugal's Entrepreneurial Universities Ranking'23, in partnership with Dealroom and based on the "Universities" tab of the Startup Portugal dashboard, analyses the performance of national universities in educating entrepreneurs. The evaluation includes categories such as startups founded by alumni, unicorns or potential unicorns founded by alumni, as well as the number of spin-offs or funding raised by the startups.
This year, NOVA University Lisbon shared the podium with the University of Porto (1st) and the Catholic University (2nd). Based on the figures presented by Startup Portugal and adjusting the number of founders to the university's student population, NOVA stands out as the national public university with the best ratio of alumni founders.
NOVA also stands out in the number of startups with the potential to become unicorns, and in the number of alumni who have already raised investment rounds of more than 10 million euros, which demonstrates the quality of the university's education in general and reflects its ongoing commitment to entrepreneurship education with an impact on the country's society and economy.
NOVA University Lisbon congratulates all the universities present in this ranking, especially those on the podium, and will certainly continue to work actively to train more and better entrepreneurs and to guarantee the necessary conditions for the effective valorisation of knowledge.
In the 6th edition of the NOVA Science and Innovation Day, it became inevitable to say that this is an event that is attracting increasing interest. "It has become a hallmark of NOVA's excellence in research and innovation," stressed NOVA's Rector, João Sàágua, in his welcome speech at the beginning of the event, which took place throughout the 21st of November - and which you can read in full here.
"There would be no science and innovation without scientists and entrepreneurs, so allow me to thank in particular our teachers, researchers and other talented professionals from all our schools for the incredible work they do every day", stressed the Rector.
Isabel Rocha, Vice Rector in charge of Research and Innovation at NOVA, also emphasised that, in addition to publications, it is important to take into account their impact - and in this respect, "NOVA is 30 per cent above the international average".
With a particular focus on interdisciplinarity and the impact of the excellent research carried out at NOVA, the programme began with a section dedicated to the University's researchers who have stood out over the past year, both in terms of attracting funding and the impact of the research carried out, as well as the presentation and awarding of prizes to the winners of the Impact Narratives Challenge in Research, which can be read in the recently launched NOVA Science magazine.
The afternoon session was dedicated to innovation, with the presentation of a remarkable success story in the transfer of scientific knowledge to society - an extraordinary feat told by Holger Kissel, Senior Vice President of Scientific Relations at BioNTech, which has changed our lives forever.
BioNTech, a German biotechnology company founded in 2008 by two scientists of Turkish origin, became famous in 2020 with the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with Pfizer. The same vaccine that, in December 2020, will be the first to be authorised for emergency use after phase III trials.
There was also time for a round table with various representatives of the NOVA innovation ecosystem and its partners - at the same time as the Innovation Fair was taking place in the atrium of the presbytery, with the presence of various patented technologies, specialised services, CoLabs, Spi-offs and other companies from the university ecosystem.
Sea4Us, a marine resources biotechnology company based in Sagres and a spin-off of Nova Medical School, has just received the news that it has been approved for funding of 5.96 million euros, awarded by the European Innovation Council (EIC), to advance clinical trials that will allow us to bring an innovative analgesic to the market.
It is a non-opioid, marine-inspired, highly effective treatment for chronic pain, a problem that affects 1.6 billion people worldwide. The therapy developed by Sea4Us eliminates the side effects of current opioid-based drugs without compromising their efficacy.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) is Europe's leading innovation programme for identifying, developing and scaling up innovative technologies.
Created under the Horizon Europe programme, the EIC has a budget of €10.1 billion to support innovations throughout their life cycle.
Specifically, the CaixaImpulse programme aims to support universities and research projects that want to transfer a proprietary or protected innovation from research to the market, either as a spin-off or as a transfer agreement, and whose value proposition needs to be validated and developed.
The proposals include:
Amazon has just announced the winners of the Alexa Prize TaskBot Challenge 2, and the result couldn't be more encouraging, as the first place was won by the team from the Department of Informatics/NOVA LINCS of the Faculty of Science and Technology of NOVA University Lisbon.
The competition, which has a cash prize of 500,000 dollars (circa 475 000 euros), rewards university teams from around the world that develop solutions to one of the most challenging problems in conversational artificial intelligence (AI): creating conversational AI experiences that respond to users' ever-changing needs while performing complex tasks.
The expectation is that TaskBot, Alexa's conversational agent - the virtual assistant developed by Amazon - will be able to communicate effectively and guide the user through manual tasks, from cooking to making origami. This year, the competing teams were challenged to find solutions that incorporated more visuals into each conversation.
The NOVA FCT team, known as "TWIZ", developed a solution that works on two fronts, integrating voice and video. For example, the agent can teach a user how to perform a complex manual task, such as cooking, painting, arranging objects, etc., and even dialogue in detail about the instructions with video support.
Read more on the NOVA FCT website.
"The experience was very positive, we received very constructive feedback and felt immense support from both our mentor and the entire ANI organisation. None of this would have been possible without the recommendation of the NOVA ImpACT office that has been accompanying us and encouraging us to participate in programmes that value innovative business ideas and guide and promote them."Remember that the ColoRIR team was one of the winning teams of the NOVA impACT Challenges!, initiative that took place during 3 weeks in July and that promotes the acceleration of projects based on the creation of prototypes.
The Pan European Seal Professional Traineeship Programme is a paid internship programme offered by the EPO (European Patent Office) and the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) for students and alumni of some of the largest European colleges/universities.
NOVA has partnered up with EPO and EUIPO and is inviting its students and recent alumni to participate in this programme and experience what it is like to work for 12 month in an intellectual property office.
The EPO, in Munich, and the EUIPO, in Alicante, are looking for graduates for the 2022/2023 vacancies.
Applications open until February 22th, 2022!
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