The DESIS Lab and ERA Chair in Social Innovation at Nova SBE are thrilled to announce the awardees for the Spring 2026 Prototyping Fund! This program provides teams of students with up from €150 to €1500 (in case they are reapplying for a second round), to bring their ideas to life by building prototypes.
We are excited to share that this semester, we received a total of 37 applications and we have awarded funding to 17 teams. Among them are 14 new teams, bringing fresh perspectives and ideas to the table, as well as 3 teams continuing their journey from the previous cycle.
Over the semester, these awarded teams will dedicate their time to exploring, testing, and iterating on their prototypes. The kick-off of this 6th edition took place on February 19. The selected projects span a remarkable range of themes: from health and wellbeing to sustainability, digital inclusion, and workplace innovation.
Among them are BootLoop, to develop a web-based prototype connecting textile waste producers with certified recyclers; AgriAI, a mobile, solar-powered drone station prototype for early plant disease detection in olive orchards; and Neotile, a modular, durable coffee table combining craftsmanship with circular economy principles. Returning All-Star Awardees— Plasnatur, Alga and Ohana Rentals to continue to develop scalable solutions.
Stay tuned for updates on the progress of these teams and mark your calendars for the final showcase event, scheduled for Tuesday, April 28th, 12:30pm to 2:30pm at the Nova SBE KPMG Gallery.
Join us to witness the incredible prototypes crafted by these talented teams!
Spring‘26 Prototyping Fund Awardees
NOVA Bridge Asia: To pilot a diversity access platform aimed at reducing informational and cultural barriers for Chinese students, while fostering inclusion and diversity at NOVA SBE through a bilingual digital hub. Team: Junfeng Huang, Yifan Wang
Ifloss: A first MVP of a reusable flossing tool designed to make daily flossing simple, fast, and sustainable. The device will be a handheld tool that lets users tension and secure standard dental floss between two arms. Team: Felix Kossack , Viktoria Honig
Luca Te Lo Dice: The project aims to build a no-code MVP platform to automate and scale an existing language learning community, replacing manual booking and coordination with a student self-registration system, teacher dashboard, and automated group class booking. Team: Alessio Volponi, Luca Lioce, Manar Jhir
NovaExchange: It is a web platform prototype that helps students make informed exchange program decisions by providing searchable partner university data, peer reviews, and personalized favourite lists. Team: Francisco Santos
Lighthouse: The project aims to build a warm, user-friendly digital companion for elderly people living alone that reduces loneliness through daily conversations, personalized interaction, and gentle health and social prompts. Team: Xaver Weidner, Luis Grosse, Greta Saul
Wentania: The project aims to create an early-stage prototype of sustainable horse-care products by developing and testing natural formulations for mane, tail, and fly sprays, with a long-term goal of introducing a reusable bottle and refill system. Team: Bianca Wirth, Natalie Wirth
BootLoop: The project aims to develop a web-based prototype connecting textile waste producers with certified recyclers, enabling registration, matchmaking, and impact tracking. The goal is to validate the platform’s core functionality and user experience. Team: Francesco Beligi, Gianmarco Bastone, Tancredi Giovanni Buongiorno, Agnese Bortesi
PassItOn: It is a digital peer-to-peer marketplace for students to buy, rent, and relist belongings within their community, promoting reuse and circular behaviour. The MVP prototype demonstrates a simple, low-energy platform that extends the life of items, reduces waste, and fosters a student-led. Team: Océane Bort Aponte
TMT-The Music Thing: The project aims to build a prototype AI matchmaking platform connecting emerging musicians with small and mid-sized venues. It includes profiles, rule-based match suggestions, ranking, centralized communication, and simulated payments, focusing on testing usability, value. Team: Valentin Bloc’h Benady, Lorand Jànos Eross, Letizia Pomatto, Vittoria Niero
Neotile: It is a modular, durable coffee table combining craftsmanship with circular economy principles. Its flexible tile-inlay system allows easy repair, design updates, and sustainable use, promoting longevity and responsible consumption. Team: Joshua Welsch, Johannes Staffa
Menocare: The project aims to develop a privacy-first digital prototype for menopause support in Portugal, focusing on symptom tracking, clinically aligned literacy content, and consultation preparation. The prototype will be tested with Portuguese women to evaluate usability, clarity, and trust, informing future development. Team: Sara Leal, Sofia Silva
Lolas Stories: The project aims to build Lola Stories, a screen-free, AI-powered audio platform that creates personalized stories for children aged 2–8, using educational LLMs, voice cloning, and narrative memory. The prototype is software-only, hardware-agnostic, and designed for testing user engagement before developing a full app. Team: Agnes Enterman, Leon Gruchmann
AgriAI: A mobile, solar-powered drone station prototype for early plant disease detection in olive orchards. It features a ground station and two autonomous drones with AI-powered RGB and spectral sensors, scanning 10 hectares/week with minimal human input. Team: Ricardo Polli, Alessandro Cetra, Fulvio Marelli
MindMatch: It is a web prototype that matches patients with psychologists based on personality compatibility, offering AI-curated therapist pools, flexible session swapping, and video profiles, to help patients find the best fit beyond traditional directory listings. Team: Marta Botelho, Tomás Batalho
Plasnatur – All-Star Awardee: Compostable bioplastic school supplies (markers, cups, bags) with smart collection points and digital tracking for measurable environmental impact Team: Ana Soares, João Silva
Ohana Rentals – All-Star Awardee: Expansion of surfboard sharing to general sports equipment using simple storage boxes with changing lock codes before upgrading to automated systems. Team: Moritz Meyer, Gabriele Inama, Zita Merle
ALGA – All-Star Awardee: The continuation of the project consists of three main next steps: conduct further experiments using real algae cultures to evaluate the reactor’s performance, carry out market research to assess interest in the product and determine whether adjustments and plan to build a more professional version of the reactor. Team: Senne Delanghe, Timothy Bucher, Eliot Thibault