04 June 2024
Here are the winners of Starters Academy 2024!
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.
