Diana Gomes and Pedro Ferreira, PhD students at RISE-Health, won 3rd place in the ‘Sustainable Innovation’ category of ARRISCA C, a business ideas contest organised by the University of Coimbra, which aims to contribute to the creation of academic and entrepreneurial spin-offs and start-ups.

With SQUALIVE, a project distinguished by a renowned INOVC+ judging panel, the PhD students in Biochemistry at the University of Beira Interior (UBI) propose an innovative solution to minimise the environmental impact of olive pomace – an abundant by-product of olive oil production with high levels of environmental toxicity – and the growing need for squalene, an essential compound for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food supplement industries.

Alongside this objective, SQUALIVE technology could also serve as an alternative to the use of shark liver oil to obtain squalene, helping to reduce the death of thousands of animals every year.

The young RISE-Health researchers won a cash prize of 1,000 euros. In addition to the monetary prize, Diana Gomes and Pedro also had access to non-monetary rewards, such as incubation services, mentoring, multimedia design and access to entrepreneurship events.

In the ‘Sustainable Innovation’ category, 1st place went to the TROVADOR project, by Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça, from the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, and 2nd place went to the ‘BioTapResin’ project, by Nalin Borges and Inês Farias, from the University of Aveiro.

Photo: University of Beira Interior (UBI)