More than 330 people from 12 Brazilian states are participating in the 11th edition of the Unicamp Challenge, which began this week. For the second year in a row, the entrepreneurship competition organized by the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency takes place entirely online. The new format, adopted due to the pandemic, allowed the creation of hybrid teams with members from different cities, states and even countries.
In total, 82 groups made up of undergraduate and postgraduate students and people interested in developing potentially entrepreneurial ideas registered on the Unicamp Challenge platform. This year, more than 55% of those registered are from other universities and institutions. In addition to the Southeast, representatives from the South, Central-West and Northeast regions are also part of teams.
The event encourages the creation of innovative businesses based on technologies patented by the University with cash prizes for winners, access to free training and courses. For three months, participants will have the opportunity to talk to academic mentors – Unicamp's inventors – and business mentors – mainly entrepreneurial alumni, managers and experienced professionals from Inova Unicamp's contact base. In addition, they will also learn about entrepreneurial trajectories and learn about modeling methodologies to develop their own business using University technologies. The ten best teams selected for the second phase participate in international mentoring.
Entrepreneurship without borders
Among those registered, 73% identified themselves as students in training and 94% are participating in the Unicamp Challenge for the first time. The list includes students from other countries and international educational institutions, such as a student from the city of Porto, in Portugal, who studies at Unicamp, another from Aveiro University, also in Portugal, and a third of National University of the Coast, in Argentine.
Sávio Lucas Lacerda de Araújo is from João Pessoa (PB), graduated in Biomedicine from International College of Paraíba. He found out about the Challenge through a science communication group about physics on social media. In addition to the biomedical, an international relations professional and a marketing professional, both from São Paulo; a biologist, from Londrina (PR) and a civil engineer, from Juazeiro do Norte (CE) form the team called EConTech.
“I believe that the experience during the Challenge will be extremely beneficial for my personal and professional life, given that contact with people from different areas of knowledge will provide an enriching exchange of knowledge, in addition to promoting entrepreneurship in the academic field through training offered by the event”, said the participant.
For the Unicamp 2021 Challenge, more than 100 technologies were made available to teams divided into 16 different themes ranging from agriculture to nanotechnology. They are all part of the patent portfolio from the State University of Campinas, of which 38 were chosen. Five of them were identified – by Inova Unicamp’s new strategic analysis methodology – with great potential to become spin-offs. Of these, four were adopted, two of them by another team.
Sávio's group, for example, chose the technology of an electrochemical device to be attached to micropipettes, which improves the agility and precision of experiments. “We hope, through this business model, to contribute to reducing the costs of laboratories in Brazil and around the world, with laboratory supplies and thereby reducing the impact of waste generated”, he explained.
Female and indigenous representation
Women represent almost half of those registered in the competition, totaling 156 competitors. Among them is the only indigenous representative of the Desafio who is a Unicamp student. The female presence can be seen in 77% of the teams, some of which are made up exclusively of women.
Food technician Nicolle Yasmin de Lima Rodrigues is one of the participants. She is from Hortolândia, in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas and studies food engineering in Inconfidentes, in Federal Institute of Southern Minas Gerais. With two other friends and a friend, they formed the Biotech Recovery team, which will work with beer whitening technology.
“I feel honored and excited to be able to participate in such an event. This type of experience greatly enriches the professional. In addition to being fantastic for being able to learn and undertake more, Unicamp offers courses and the greatest support during the process to help us solve the challenge”, she commented.
Unicamp Challenge activities open to the public
The Unicamp Challenge also offers activities open to the public. On April 17th, the competition's most anticipated Workshop will take place. The online training workshop includes lectures on innovation and entrepreneurship, with the highlight of the broadcast being a class on the Lean Canvas methodology for business modeling.
Registration for participation in the Workshop must be made at this link and they are free. The results of the 11th Unicamp Challenge will be announced on July 2nd. The six finalist teams gain free access to training and courses offered by the sponsor FM2S – Education and Consulting and can still be accelerated by Speed Accelerator. The best team also wins a prize of 15 thousand reais.
The sponsors of the 11th edition of the Unicamp Challenge are: Speed Accelerator, Clarke and Modet, Eldorado Institute, FM2S – Education and Consulting, Neger Telecom, Via Consulting
The supporters of the 11th edition of the Unicamp Challenge are: Unesp Innovation Agency, Campinas Tech, Creative Space Castle, Cenagri Junior, Esalq Jr Consulting, Incamp, Campinas Center, Scientific and Technological Park, City Hall of Campinas, Uni Angels, Venture Hub
Check out the next phases of the competition at calendar of the Unicamp 2021 Challenge.
original article published on the Innovation Agency website.
