Teams Uai! and Estacione-me (Park me) win the Unicamp Challenge Workshop

Teams Uai! (non-web category) and Estacione-me (web category) won the Unicamp Challenge Workshop occurred from April 9 to 16 at the university. The event was organized by Inova Unicamp and Campinas Startups, an institution founded to represent the startups of the Campinas Metropolitan Area (RMC).

The event’s technical coordinator Virgílio Marques dos Santos explains that the workshop was just a training phase: the real challenge starts now and runs until July 19. “During the next two months, the teams will be supported by academic mentors and experienced entrepreneurs/professionals to develop a business model for one of the pre-selected protected technologies produced by the university.” The teams will access all the details of patented technologies and softwares developed by Unicamp’s researchers.

According to Marques dos Santos, the successful number of attendees (120 entrepreneurs-to-be in the first day and 90 in the final competition) reflects a latent demand among the students: “we are positively surprised with the commitment of the teams developing the tasks during the week. Some teams even got their first customers.” He also mentioned the several successful tech companies founded by Unicamp’s alumni as an inspiration for the participants. Those companies are a referential of success all over the country.

The winners followed the organizers’ advice and have built multidisciplinary teams, with complementary skills among the members. Team Uai! (a typical interjection from Minas Gerais and Goiás Brazilian states) has 5 members: Rafael Holtz, a Chemistry PhD candidate at Unicamp; Raíssa Estrela Curado and Gleidson Silva Teixeira, both former Biology undergraduate students at Unicamp; Paulo Salomão and Gustavo Gomes, both Production Engineer undergraduate students at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (Minas Gerais state). The three members from Minas Gerais and two from Goiás have met during the first day of the workshop, when they decided to build the team and work together.

The posts in the team’s blogs reflect the enthusiasm of the participants about the competition: “the first workshop day was really intense. Many of the team members had no idea of what a startup is about and, curiously, we left the building with a pretty good idea about where we are getting into and we are totally motivated to make the things happen and do all this work!” The idea developed by Uai! is part of Holtz PhD research and consists in an antibacterial additive to be included in the composition of paints, grouts and glazes. The product’s purpose is to decrease the number of bacterial infections.

Estacione-me (Park me in English), winner of the web category, consists of three students of the Unicamp’s Mechanics Engineering Faculty: Bruno Fontes Lima, a graduate student of Energetic Planning;  Walter Wascheck Neto, a Mechatronics Engineer undergraduate student  and João Paulo Sales Barreto, a Mechanics Engineer undergraduate student.

The idea developed by Estacione-me consists in an website that allows the users to offer and to pay in advance parking lots nearby events and shows. During the pitch, Lima said: “our targeted customers are upper class consumers, who frequently attend events and the owners of parking spaces nearby the places where the events happen.” Lima mentioned that parking in São Paulo during a show can cost R$140. According to the survey made with the potential customers, 87% answered that would buy this service.

The pitches were judged by some partners of IVP (Inova Ventures Participações/Partners), a holding of about 50 entrepreneurs and investors founded to invest in high potential startups, preferably from the Unicamp Ecosystem: Fernando Matt (Ci&T/IVP), Bruno Moreira (Inventta), Sergio Falsarella (IVP), Fabio Pagani (IVP/Softex), Ricardo Sazima (IVP/Abril), Carlos Fróes (KNBS) and Renato Toi (SER/IVP), who announced the winners. Announcing the winners, Toi mentioned that “the pitches were judged considering the following criteria: the pitch, the use of the LEAN Startup Methodology and the results obtained during the week.” He highlighted the results obtained by some of the teams: a team effectively sold the product, another obtained a formal intention letter of a customer and another team found adjacent markets during the customer development/discovery. According to Toi, an aspect to improve is the pitch itself: “the teams should sell more their products, putt on a show”.

According to Patricia Magalhães Toledo, Intelectual Property and Technology Transfer Director at Inova Unicamp, the Unicamp Challenge will be a mean to get know better the market potential of the technologies developed by the university and to increase the chances of licensing them to startups. “We know the well succeed experience abroad, but in Brazil the transfer of universities’ technologies to startups is still a project that we would like to encourage”, says the director.

The workshop videos are available at the Inova Unicamp’s YouTube channel. The Unicamp Challenge 2011 is sponsored by CNPq, Allagi, EDti, Instituto Eldorado and Inventta. The final is scheduled to July 19, 2011. The winner prize will be R$2,500 and a trophy. Additional information on the event’s website.