"Innovation is one of our strategic axes. The UP Innovation Awards aim to recognize, select and reward new products and services that impact society," commented Dr. María de los Ángeles Padilla, Vice Rector General for Educational Innovation."
With the aim of transcending borders, breaking paradigms, recognizing and rewarding new products and/or services that will benefit humanity, Universidad Panamericana held the second edition of the UP Innovation Awards (UPIA), a national and international call that invites entrepreneurs and/or SMEs from the community in general to present their projects to an evaluation jury and be awarded for their innovation.
The UPIAs promote new projects in any of the seven thematic areas: Biotechnology and Health, Education, Renewable Energies and New Materials, Creative Industries, Internet of Things, Urban Mobility and Software. For these thematic areas there were three award categories: Validated Idea, Functional Prototype and Market Traction.
The call opened on November 3, 2021 and ended on February 15, 2022, in which 150 projects, created by expert researchers and companies in general, were evaluated. After a period of evaluation, 15 semi-finalists were selected, representing cities such as Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, León and Oaxaca.
The first category, Validated Idea, was aimed at national or international entrepreneurs with highly innovative product, service or process projects, who have a business idea that has been technically validated but does not yet have a working prototype or cannot be implemented due to its characteristics.
The second category, Functional Prototype, was aimed at projects that have a functional prototype that is close to market readiness or in beta stage.
Finally, the third category, Market Traction, is aimed at projects that are already generating sales and are looking to accelerate their growth.
The final of this second edition was held virtually, with the support of leading companies such as Akron, Flex, AWS, Connectory Bosch, Kurago Biotek and Líder Empresarial and with the participation of the jury formed by Héctor Marín from Flex, Sofía Camarena and María José Palomar from Akron, Francisco Marquez representing COECYTJAL, Verónica Rodríguez from Connectory Bosch, Paola Hurtado from NTT Data and Jesús Torres from Universidad Panamericana.
"Our university becomes part of the solution to achieve a better Mexico and for this we are aware that the relationship with leading companies is key. " shared Dr. María de los Ángeles Padilla, Vice Rector General for Educational Innovation, during the final of the competition.
The dialogue between the business and university worlds creates a very positive synergy of growth, feedback and innovation as an essential part of business competitiveness. That is why after listening to the pitches of each of the teams, the three winners in each category were determined. The prizes were as follows: First place $100,000.00 MXN in cash, $10,000 USD in AWS credits, $75,000.0 MXN to develop prototypes, national and international business agenda and a Landing page. For the second place $75,000 MXN in cash, $10,000 USD in AWS credits and $50,000.0 MXN to develop prototypes. And for the third place, $50,000 MXN in cash, $10,000 USD in AWS credits and $35,000 in prototype development.
In the Validated Idea category, first place went to Ayure, represented by Salvador Alfaro from the city of Monterrey, in the area of software. Second place went to TuGlucosa Health, represented by Cynthia Chagollán de León, in the area of biotechnology and health. And in third place Escuela Rural Hacia los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, represented by Eduardo Garza from the City of Monterrey in the area of Education.
In the Market Traction category, Atom Inovatec, represented by Mario Alberto Salgado from Oaxaca, won first place in the area of Renewable Energies. In second place was Abadi Eco, represented by Gerardo Sánchez from Jalisco in the Renewable Energies area. And in third place K-Hero, represented by Guillermo Tena from Jalisco in the area of Software.
Finally, in the Functional Prototype category, Agriicola, represented by Iván Padilla from Jalisco, won first place in the Software area. Second place went to BioGrip Tecnología Biónica, represented by Alan Hernández from Mexico in the area of Biotechnology and Health. And in third place, Laboratorio de Accesibilidad Digital en Red, represented by Eneida Rendón from Jalisco in the Software area.
Universidad Panamericana congratulates the winners of this edition of the UP Innovation Awards for their dedication in the development of new products and/or services that will benefit humanity. For Panamericana it represents a great achievement to carry out an innovation competition at a national level, which generates a great impact within the community and above all encourages the development of entrepreneurs who seek to provide optimal and comprehensive solutions for the population and become points of reference for adverse situations that arise.