22 May 2026
Starters Academy 2026: NSafe takes first place in this 17th edition
The NSafe team was the overall winner of the 17th edition of Starters Academy, NOVA University Lisbon’s entrepreneurship programme, whose Demo Day took place on May 20.
The winning project proposes a wearable safety device aimed at young women who feel unsafe when travelling alone, enabling a rapid alert system in situations of risk, where every second matters and the team is composed of Rodrigo Marcelino (NOVA FCT), Francesca D’Ingillo (Nova SBE), Finn Perben (Nova SBE) and Marcus Miguel (IHMT NOVA), and was awarded a company registration voucher and one year of access to the Claude Pro AI platform for all team members.
In this edition, two additional prizes were also awarded. The Audience Award went to the MEMVO team, which developed a solution for recording and sharing bedtime stories, bringing together families who are geographically apart. The team includes Matrina Abruzzese and Phuong Le (Nova SBE) and David Niderost (NOVA FCT), and received four months of access to Claude Pro AI.
The Best Market Validation award was given to the Daysy team for developing an intelligent micro-break assistant that promotes more sustainable working practices. The project is led by Lenn Swennen (Nova SBE), Hamim Alam (NOVA IMS) and Dayse Aryadne Gonçalves Tiago (NOVA FCSH), who also received four months of access to the same platform.
The Demo Day jury included Rita Falcão, Director of Innovation, Value Creation and Global Affairs at NOVA University Lisbon, Carlos Resende, Business Angel at AngelsWay, Inês Petrucci from 3xPGlobal, and Miguel Garcês Roxo from Portugal Ventures.
The 17th edition of Starters Academy brought together 40 students, organised into 10 teams, representing 15 nationalities and eight NOVA schools. Throughout the programme, participants attended 13 training sessions and engaged with 20 speakers and mentors, strengthening entrepreneurial skills and developing innovative solutions with real impact.
Starters Academy stands as one of NOVA’s main initiatives supporting student entrepreneurship, fostering the creation of projects with market potential and social impact.
