This year, the BfK program had the participation of 29 national higher education institutions and the final took place at the end of last week at the Centro de Congressos da Alfândega do Porto, with the distinction of four winners. The objective of the initiative is to help in the transfer of knowledge from higher education institutions to the business fabric. University of Porto, UTAD, UBI and the Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave presented winning projects.
The OrgaValue project, from the University of Porto, aims to save 50,000 lives a year by changing the paradigm of liver transplants. The waiting list for a transplant of this organ is quite long and every year 28 thousand livers are wasted that could save the lives of 50 thousand people. The main obstacle to its use is related to the quality of the organs, something that OrgaValue intends to combat: the team has developed an innovative bioengineering technology that allows the rehabilitation of human organs, making them transplantable. The liquid cleaning solution removes the cells and leaves a non-cellular matrix with the appropriate organic matrix to receive new healthy human cells, with the process being optimized by the OrgaValue perfusion machine.
The second winning initiative comes from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) and is a therapeutic product, effective in the regeneration of complex wounds in animals, with antimicrobial and analgesic properties, being biocompatible, biodegradable and sustainable. The patent for this product is pending and there are already peer-reviewed scientific articles published. PlatGen, more than healing, stimulates and accelerates tissue regeneration mechanisms and is made up of proteins of high biological value derived from platelets and leukocytes, and can be applied even in large lesions. For now, the product is intended to treat wounds in dogs and cats, but the team intends to extend its use to other species, including humans.
The third initiative focuses on civil construction, with the University of Beira Interior proposing the BOB, Building Out of the Box, to minimize the environmental footprint and increase productivity in the sector. The innovative solution is based on three aspects: digitization of the commercial process of 3D printing companies for concrete and other mortars, 3D printing of various decorative and structural elements and research and development of printing materials through the use of industrial, mine and other waste. . This research is already on the ground, in the municipality of Fundão, where developers are digitizing vacant buildings and developing modules that fit into existing structures, as if it were a Tetris game.
Finally, As Aventuras de Lexie is the project of the Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave, which aims to gamify dyslexia, promoting early intervention in a neurobiological disorder that affects one in five people worldwide and that motivates school dropouts by 50% of children affected. The proposed game makes it possible, in a fun way, to overcome learning limitations, with the concept based on the opportunity for children to interact with the various characters and obtain satisfaction from playing and practicing the proposed exercises. The game allows parents, educators, therapists and psychologists to access all the results data in order to follow the child’s development during the gameplay period.
João Borga, administrator of ANI, believes that the scientific research produced in Higher Education institutions is increasingly surprising and encourages BfK winners and all participants to take advantage of opportunities to reach the market.
