New innovative projects developed at the University of Minho were awarded in SpinUM – Business Ideas Competition, organized by TecMinho. Screen4Health”, “Move+” and “CodArte” were the ideas awarded with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes, respectively, in the ceremony that took place on March 29th 2023 at the University of Minho.

The winning idea “Screen4Health”, was presented by one of the promoters Joana Sousa and developed together with Andreia Castro and Patrícia Maciel. The project aims to speed up the process of selecting promising drugs for the treatment of rare diseases, namely Spinocerebellous ataxias.

The 2nd prize was awarded to the idea “Move+”. Authored by Cristina Santos, Nuno Ribeiro and Luís Martins, researchers of the School of Engineering, the project consists of a fall risk assessment tool based on sensory information and Artificial Intelligence, which includes the detection of daily risk activities and falls, estimation of balance, gait and fatigue indicators and analysis of the environmental context.

The “CodArte” project, which aims to create high security rigid cases for classical music instruments, was awarded the 3rd prize. The project was presented by its promoters Thomas Gomes, Filipe Bernardo, Sandra Vaz and José Abreu.

In this 13th edition of SpinUM, five business ideas reached the final, analysed taking into account criteria such as the degree of innovation, the development of the idea, the market potential, the impact on society, the team and the quality of communication. Each finalist had 10 minutes to present the project in the Elevator Pitch model, followed by questions and comments from the jury.

The panel of judges of this edition included representatives from Armilar Venture Partners (Mr. Pedro Castel-Branco), from IAPMEI (Ms. Natália Martins), from Patentree (Ms. Anabela Carvalho) and from the University of Minho (Professor Eugénio Campos Ferreira).

At the end of the ceremony, monetary prizes were distributed and support services to industrial property were offered in a total value of 9.000 euros.

The “SpinUM” competition annually distinguishes and supports the most innovative business ideas with the greatest potential in any scientific or technological area, generated at the University of Minho.

The “SpinUM – Business Ideas Competition” is co-financed by Compete 2020 under the UI-CAN project.

SOURCE – TecMinho