Promoted by MEO Empresas, this is a technological innovation competition that seeks to validate, recognize and reward solutions that drive digital transformation and the future of companies. In this 2nd edition, the aim was to find business solutions leveraging 5G connectivity, with a special focus on solutions that exploit advanced 5G features such as network slicing.
After 50 applications were received, 12 finalists presented their solutions on June 25 before a jury that included: Fátima Caçador, Director of Casa dos Bits, Hélder Almeida, Operations Director at Efacec Power Solutions, José Pedro Nascimento, Chief Technology Officer at Altice Portugal, and Nuno Nunes, Chief Sales Officer B2B at Altice Portugal.
And it was precisely Nuno Nunes who was in charge of the welcome, taking the opportunity to outline MEO Empresas's strategic vision: "Our goal is to continue with our 5G strategy," he said, adding: "I would remind you that we launched a 5G solution this year, the Private Custom Network, and this solution allows national companies to have access to a slice of our operator network. This allows us to put solutions, use cases that we are looking for here today and others that we have already found in previous editions, running on our network, making companies more competitive, lowering their operating costs and, therefore, enabling a digital transformation of their customers". More than suppliers, "we want to be a partner for national companies, above all," he said.
Once the session was open and each member of the jury had given their vision of 5G, it was then time for each company to present their solution during a five-minute pitch, followed by a moment of questions from each juror. Both in person and online, each representative did their best to increase the likelihood of being one of the winners.
Once the presentations had been made, it was time for the jury to meet to make the most difficult decision of the day: to award the prize in each of the categories. The task was not easy, given the quality of all the projects, but the choice was made and the winners were announced to loud applause.
The "Enline" project was the big winner in the "5G Technology Innovation Grand Prize" category. "Our project is an advanced software project for digitising energy assets. We create digital twins of energy assets, from the generation, transmission, distribution and large consumption of energy," explained Manuel Lemos, Enline's co-founder and CMO, adding the significance of the afternoon and the €15,000 prize that will now be part of the project's plans: "This prize is important because, firstly, it's a very interesting startup competition process, with national and international companies, where we presented our technology and how we can impact and be impacted by 5G. I see here, firstly, the recognition, which is important and, secondly, the vision of being able to do projects with MEO too, so that we can also improve 5G." For the co-founder, the idea will also be to go from competitor to partner in the near future.
In the "Best Portuguese Solution" category, the "eSole" project was the winner. With the €10,000 prize, Joana Figueiredo, CEO, explained the project. "We are developing a technology to assess the risk of injury and fatigue in athletes, in this case football players, using an insole with multiple sensors. The idea is that each athlete can have their own type of insole, made by the podiatrist, customized, and we can introduce our technology into that same insole." As for the award: "This recognition of the work we've done over the last year is very important to us and this award gives us the strength internally to continue this project and also visibility. This kind of support is always welcome so that we can get more riders to test our technology," he says.
In the area of Sustainability and Social Impact, ".lumen - Glasses for the Blind" was the winning project, making its presence felt at the event remotely, but with a presentation and initiative strong enough to win the €5,000 prize.
With the awards handed out, it was time to congratulate all the contestants and to raise the possibility of a future connection with MEO Empresas. After all, several projects had shown their potential and could join the company in the future to help make a difference. In the words of Nuno Nunes, who was also responsible for closing the event, "this is a journey that is made" and will make, together
Observer Lab