18-02-2026
Photo: João Lima/NOVA FCT
VENTUS, FungiFoam, and Celumetrics Exams are the winners of this edition of NOVA FCT’s Entrepreneurship Program. This is the largest university entrepreneurship program in Portugal, encouraging students to develop innovative projects in Science, Engineering, and Technology to address real-world societal challenges.
Throughout February, students enrolled in the Entrepreneurship curricular unit developed the necessary skills to present an original technology-based business. Today, at NOVA FCT’s Main Auditorium, the 12 finalist teams — selected from over 900 students — presented their original projects to a jury composed of representatives from Axians, Deloitte, Jerónimo Martins, and NOS.
First place went to VENTUS, a vertical-axis wind turbine mounted on streetlight poles to generate decentralized energy in urban environments, enabling clean, local, and low-cost electricity production. The student team received the top prize of €1,000.
The FungiFoam team won second place with a project tackling the challenges of energy poverty in Portuguese homes through a sustainable, fungus-based solution. The team created a new insulation material made from mycelium—a property of fungi—that, when integrated with other materials such as sawdust and Portuguese cork, produces high-performance thermal panels with greater energy efficiency at a highly competitive cost. Additionally, FungiFoam was awarded the IMPACT Prize from the Santander Foundation, recognizing sustainable innovation, worth €750.
Third place went to Celumetrics Exams – RenalNow, a biosensor device that analyzes common biomarkers of Chronic Kidney Disease and sends the data to an app, allowing it to be shared with doctors.
“This year’s distinguished projects show increasing maturity, with many students already developing physical prototypes and technologies validated at the proof-of-concept level. This represents a decisive step in mitigating technological risk. The next major challenge lies in the market, where adaptability and speed of decision-making play a decisive role — skills that are increasingly valued in today’s professional landscape,” said Fernanda Llussá, one of the coordinators of the NOVA FCT Entrepreneurship Program, alongside professors Aneesh Zutshi and Virgílio Cruz Machado.
In the company-sponsored category prizes, also with monetary value, the winners were: PetPulse (Jerónimo Martins Prize), Amaize (Deloitte Prize), Chitofoil (Axians Prize), and Clear View (NOS Prize).
The award ceremony marked the end of the NOVA FCT Entrepreneurship Program. This academic program is part of the Faculty’s Curricular Profile, a pedagogical approach that was pioneering in Portuguese higher education. Since 2012, NOVA FCT has included courses focused on developing soft skills, combining experimental and continuous learning with close connection to the job market.
Photo Gallery here.( João Lima/NOVA FCT)
