The winners of the INOVA+ Award, which distinguished nine national scientific, business and public innovation projects, are now known, with a total of 30 thousand euros. Health, Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence are the areas highlighted in this important initiative that has AIP as one of the partner entities.
Researchers Catarina Paquete (ITQB NOVA), Vicente Garção (Institute of Telecommunications – Técnico Lisboa) and Vitor Gaspar (CICECO – Institute of Materials of Aveiro); the companies Surgeon Mate, Nevaro and BestHealth4U; and the public entities University of Aveiro, Parish Council of Santo António (Lisbon) and Coimbra City Council are the big winners of the INOVA+ 2024 Award. In each category, the first place winner will receive a monetary prize of 5 thousand euros, while the second and the third will have access to specialized consultancy services worth 2.5 thousand euros.
With the High Patronage of His Excellency, the President of the Republic, the INOVA+ Award is organized by the consultancy and has as partners the National Innovation Agency (ANI), the Portuguese Industrial Association (AIP), the Coordinating Council of Higher Polytechnic Institutes (CCISP ), the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities (CRUP) and the Directorate-General for the Arts (DGArtes).
In 2022, to mark its 25th anniversary, INOVA+ launched the first edition of this Award. The initiative had, to date, received around 230 expressions of interest and 50 applications. In the second edition these numbers were largely surpassed. INOVA+ received around 340 expressions of interest and 80 applications.
The INOVA+ 2024 Award's great novelty was the creation of a category aimed at public innovation projects, crossing art and science and/or technology. The winners of the Creative Cities category were decided through an online vote that was well received by the public, totaling more than 270 thousand votes.
In the Business Innovation and Scientific Innovation categories, the winners were determined by deliberation by the jury, which brought together representatives from the academic and business worlds. The panel of judges was made up of Eurico Neves, Chairman of INOVA+, and representatives of the partner entities of the INOVA+ 2024 Award: Diogo Gomes de Araújo (ANI), Benvinda Catarino (AIP), Paulo Jorge Ferreira (CRUP), Maria de Fátima Nunes de Carvalho (CCISP) and Bruno Coelho (DGArtes).
