Next edition on Nov 22 – 23 will feature Humanities and Health and Life Sciences students.
Photo: Diego Furtado
The 1st edition of the Marathon of Innovation of PUCRS (MIP) challenged School of Medicine, Business School and School of Technology students’ empathy, on Oct 25 – 26, to conceive innovative solutions from different areas. The Marathon is a partnership between the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Entrepreneurship and Innovation of PUCRS (Idear), PUCRS’ Science and Technology Park (Tecnopuc) and the Academic Schools of the University.
The next edition will feature students from the School of Humanities and School of Health and Life Sciences on Nov 22 – 23. On Nov 29 – 30, Law School students will have the chance to join in. To get a feel of what is to come this year, check out what happened at the opening edition and the three projects that won big.
Idear’s Academic Coordinator, Dr Ana Cecília Bisso Nunes, claims that MIP aims to raise students’ awareness to entrepreneurship. “This is a moment for us to encourage interdisciplinarity as we open the doors for programs in different areas to address a similar challenge”, she says. The methodology is inspired by hackatons, which are marathons in which participants look for new, creative and innovative ways to solve problems.
Tecnopuc’s Executive, Mrs Flavia Fiorin, adds that raising students’ awareness is essential for them to become entrepreneurs. “At MIP, they realize how enriching it is to bring different areas together for an idea, a solution”, she adds. Fiorin also mentions that Tecnopuc, as an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship that houses more than 170 organizations and employs 7,000 people, is open to students.
Photo: Diego Furtado
Ana Cecília points out that the participants of the Marathon will investigate real problems and interact closely with people from other areas. “We generate self-knowledge when we interact with different people. Then, we also find our strengths and weaknesses”, she says.
In the first edition, the projects were grouped into three categories: Long and Prosperous Life (quality of life, prevention and diagnosis); Collecting Wins (treatment and rehabilitation) and Health Multiverse (management, relationship, health education and training). “The organization of MIPs rely on the understanding of specific features of each area and the development of challenges that are associated with world problems, which can generate impact”, Ana Cecília comments.
Gabriela Ferreira, Business School Professor and Innovation Agent, adds that the Marathon enables participants to have hands-on learning experiences to solve real contemporary challenges. “The world of the future, and perhaps the future of the world, has two important words: knowledge and collaboration. And the Marathon involves these two aspects”, she says.
Giovani Gadonksi, School of Medicine’s Innovation Agent, told students that the intention is to arouse curiosity, team spirit, empathy, in a relaxed, but focused work environment. “At the end of the Marathon, I noticed students’ social, intellectual and organizational development. That was very clear in the presentations and in the excellent ideas that came up. I believe we provoked them and got something in return”, he adds. He further complements: “The training of Medical School students at PUCRS, which is already recognized for its excellence, will benefit greatly from perspectives in unexplored areas that need to be addressed in the training of medical doctors of the future.”
Professor Fernando Lemos, School of Technology’s Innovation Agent, points out that the Innovation Marathon is another great initiative developed by PUCRS for the consolidation of an entrepreneurship and innovation attitude in students. “It’s been an opportunity and a challenge for our students to work with students and Business School and School of Medicine faculty. The Marathon fostered a very rich environment, with different perceptions of reality, attitudes and solutions. In addition, it allowed participants to develop functional, behavioral and social skills in an integrated way. We will definitely do it again in 2020”, Lemos says.
Concerned about creating hospital solutions, the Bactag group won the category Long and Prosperous Life. The project delivered solutions for cases of nosocomial infections, which, according to WHO, is the 4th leading cause of death in the world.
Members: Alice Scalzilli Becker, Catarina Vellinho Busnello, Eduarda Luckemeyer Bañolas, Elisa Hartmann Kist, Natalia Dias Koff, Matheus Feijó.
Cardiac Glove overcame the Multiverse Health challenge by proposing a way to make cardiac massage more efficient by improving the care of patients in cardiopulmonary arrest. Members: Rafael Fontana Dias, Rafael Vianna Behr, Paula Pressler, Ana Paula Donadello Martins, Barbara Zanesco Moehlecke and Juliana Reinerhr.
The group that won the Collecting Wins Challenge has developed a solution to pressure ulcer, a very common condition for patients in ICUs.
Members: Carolina Knijnik, Evellinne Riva, Gabriela Massoni, Renata Amaral, Alessandro Borges, Roger Fonseca.
