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A folding cup that allows you to clean the menstrual cup in environments without a private sink wins the 9th edition of Innovation Day

A folding cup that allows you to clean the menstrual cup in environments without a private sink wins the 9th edition of Innovation Day

Las Thursday, November 9th, took place at the StartUB! facilities the 9th edition of Innovation Day, a day aimed at members of the university community, distributed by teams and through a methodology based on design thinking, to propose solutions to challenges posed by entities and companies.

The Department participated in yesterday’s edition. of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Human Age Institute Foundation of Manpower and the University of Barcelona itself, through the Vice-Rectorate of Equality and Gender, who proposed the challenges to the almost 150 participants, the majority of the University of Barcelona, of all teachings, but also from other universities.

During the morning, after the entities presented the challenges, in this case related to food waste, new work environments and sustainable menstruation, the 33 participating teams -11 per challenge- were working on understanding the problem and on the affected user, in the generation and selection of ideas, prototyping and preparation of the presentation, accompanied at all times by facilitators and experts in the methodology and the subject.

At the end of the day, a jury made up of members of the Catalan entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem chose one winning proposal per challenge, each of which received 500 euros. Furthermore, among the three winning proposals, a final winner was selected, which will be the one that will have the opportunity to participate in the final of the European iDays, where the 23 winning teams from the different cities where this initiative has been held will compete for the title. of final winner. This year the final will be on November 30 and December 1 in Barcelona, within the framework of the actions organized by EIT Health.

The three winning teams were the following:

  • From the Human Age Institute Foundation, which proposed: What would new work environments have to be like to adapt to the needs and/or preferences of the new generations?, the winning proposal was the one proposed by the team called Zenith, made up of students from the Tolouse Business School and the University of Barcelona, who, through an artificial intelligence platform, proposed the detection of stress and emotional support, while also offering key data to companies.
  • From the Dept. of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, the winning proposal for the challenge: How could we avoid food losses and waste? was proposed by the Boltzmann Brain team, who proposed the implementation of composite containers on rooftops or balconies, and using it in urban gardens in this same space.
  • And from the Vice-Rector’s Office for Equality and Gender, a foldable container to clean the menstrual cup when there is no access to a sink with the aim of encouraging the use of the cup while guaranteeing hygiene, was the one that deserved the winning status. challenge How can we improve the experience of people who go through menstruation? It was proposed by the InnoBio team, made up of 5 students from the UB’s Biomedical Engineering Degree.

The latter was finally chosen by the jury as the best to represent the University of Barcelona in the European final. This edition closes again with a successful call, which is expected to be repeated in the next edition, already scheduled for May 7th.