The University submission its entrepreneurship awards for the most outstanding student projects during Innovation Day 2024

Students from the University of Navarra have created more than 30 new business models during the latest edition of Fast Track: the academic center's entrepreneurship competition. Organized by Innovation Factory, the university's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, this initiative recognizes the work, development and innovation of the best business plans in two categories: a competition between students from Degree in Pamplona and San Sebastian, and a shorter one yb which concluded last month, for students from Master's Degree held at campus in Madrid.

The submission awards for Degree students took place during the gala held yesterday at the University of Navarra Museum: Innovation Day, the University's annual innovation and entrepreneurship event. The gala featured speeches by Hugo Rodríguez de Prada, CEO of the pizzeria chain Grosso Napoletano, awarded as the best chain in the world at the 50TopPizza Awards Ranking event held in Naples; Emilio Peña, who shared his experience as an entrepreneur until he became CEO of Flamingueo; and Ana Megía, promoter of Medical Plasmas, a health startup that uses the fourth state of the subject - cold atmospheric plasma - for the healing of torpid ulcers of vascular origin. In addition, influencer Marius Lekker, former student of the School of Medicine, was at position of the presentation of the event.

The submission of awards took place after the interventions. "Optime", a team formed by Xabier Hernández Moreno and Ander Corta Arrieta, students of ADE and Industrial Organization Engineering at TECNUN, respectively, won first place in the competition. Through development of an application aimed at students, they offer a solution that financial aid to manage time in an efficient, automated and customizable way. "Many students face the difficult task of balancing academic demands with their life staff, which can cause stress and affect their performance", explained Ander . And is that according to a report of the Ministry of Education, more than 50% of students in our country have received financial aid psychological at some time for mental health problems.

In turn, "ME-MO" came in second place in the table. Formed by Diego Berra, student of Audiovisual Communication; Celso Ordoñez and Salvador Vidaurre, from Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE); and Ángela Mei, from Medicine, the project consisted of the use of different digital tools, educational resources and a support network to facilitate the care and improve the quality of life of those suffering from Alzheimer's disease. "ME-MO Center's mission statement is to empower caregivers of this subject of patients by providing them with accessible resources and intuitive tools to humanize the caregiving experience from a bio-psycho-social approach ," noted Diego.

The Fast Track program for students of Degree includes six months of work and training theoretical-internship in multidisciplinary teams from all Schools to be more prepared for what awaits them in their professional future. Students receive sessions on ideation, creativity, canvas models, financial statements, business plan, communication, prototyping and marketing. In this way, they are able to defend their project before investors in the final phase of the competition.

As a novelty, Innovation Factory also wanted to highlight the work of the team that best defended their proposal in this last stage. "YouDJ", formed by Marcos Val Hernández and Sofía Riera Sicilia, both ADE students, was the team awarded the award for "Best Speaker". A project that developed an interactive platform that would allow customers of an establishment to propose different songs they would like to listen to.

The award for these three teams consists of the participation in the Innovation Trip, an inspirational trip to visit one of the most important innovation ecosystems in the world in Germany, its innovation centers and get to know the entrepreneurial fabric of the country.

During the Innovation Day, the public was also able to enjoy audiovisual pieces made with artificial intelligence, an escape room designed by the business Escape the City or an after work with a live DJ and pizzas from the Grosso Napoletano on Amaya Street. In addition, the event featured the sponsorship of Campus Home, business leader in student accommodation in Navarre; By Esteffy, famous for organizing high-impact events and decorations; Arantza Hotela, a Navarrese hotel recently awarded as the most sustainable hotel in Europe; Grosso Napoletano and Flamingueo.