"FarmRisk" has won the Best Project award in the «Valida la Teva Recerca» programme
On Friday, 8th, the final of the «Valida la Teva Recerca» programme took place. It is an initiative created by the UAB Research Park focusing on validating the research of research personnel to make it marketable.
The programme began last April with a first training stage, with lessons in funding options, creativity, and intellectual property, amongst others. Then they entered a second phase of mentoring, where the projects got five weeks’ worth of sessions with an expert tutor, which helped them validate their business idea and find the best market applications. Next, the projects went through a prototyping stage and, at last, presented their projects.
Four entrepreneurial projects developed by researchers at the UAB campus have competed, exposing their innovative ideas to win the Best Project award at the programme.
Eventually, FarmRisk was the recipient of a 500-€ prize. It consists of a web tool to evaluate biosecurity at farms. Starting from a questionnaire, it calculates the risks of illness, simulates possible biosecurity measures, and facilitates the decision-making process to prevent animal health problems.
Natalia Ciria, doctoral researcher at the UAB Faculty of Veterinary and part of the winner project, has explained how the programme has allowed them to find a use for an application outside of the academic world: “The most logical thing to do with research is to bring it to someone who can use it." They have also rated positively all the funding options the programme has allowed them to discover: “There’s a whole set of options we may not initially consider from the academic world.”
Besides FarmRisk, three more projects were introduced:
- FisioConecta is a project that looks to connect patients with health professionals to ease access and improve health management from anywhere.
- MiceliEcoCraft is a project that uses the Mycelium fungus to create polymers in the field of packaging, bringing the value of sustainability.
- RaicesJuveniles wants to identify politics that contribute to the empowerment of youth in Mexican rural communities, as well as the projects carried out by civil society with the same goal.
The «Valida la Teva Recerca» programme has the goal of helping PhD candidates validate their thesis or knowledge through creativity and lean start up methodologies; optimise the impact of technology to find the best application using design thinking; accelerate the process of going to market (this means, boosting the look and find of collaborations and funding); and create connections in ecosystems.