Academica Start UC honours Ambassadors of the Year

The Académica Start UC (ASUC) Gala Dinner marked the end of the 8th edition of the project, which aims to raise awareness, educate and train students in innovation and entrepreneurship, with a total of 80 initiatives and more than 4,500 participants.

Daniela Costa, a doctoral student, Sofia Duarte, a master's student in psychology, and Carolina Travassos, a civil engineering student, were honoured as Ambassadors of the Year for the 8th edition of ASUC, created by the University of Coimbra (UC) and the Coimbra Academic Association (AAC).

The award ceremony was held last Friday, 14 June, and the recipients were responsible for initiatives with a strong empowerment dimension.

This is the first edition to award honourable mentions: ASUCer + Fundraising, to Daniela Costa; Event with +Participation, to the For Your Future initiative; ASUCer + Partnerships, to Carolina Travassos; ASUCer + Empowered, to Letícia Bastianelli; Mentor of the Year, to Helena Sofia Santos; and ASUC Initiative of the Year, to the 'Maths for What?' project.
The Director of the Department of Economic Development, Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Investment of Coimbra City Council, António Albuquerque, congratulated the initiative and stressed the willingness of the department to enter into future partnerships.
The founder of The Next Big Idea, Rute Vasco, who was also present at the gala, took the opportunity to promote the link between entrepreneurship, the disruption of ideas and partnerships.

The UC Pro-Rector for Entrepreneurship, Gabriela Fernandes, thanked all the students involved for their commitment, as well as all the companies that have been associated with the project since its inception, and left a message of enthusiasm for Académica Start UC to continue doing "more and better".
This project, created by UC and AAC with the support of Santander and currently also Portugal Inovação Social through European Union funds, involves around 30 students each year from different fields of knowledge, who are responsible for promoting a policy of proximity to their peers by carrying out local initiatives for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Since its launch in the 2016/17 academic year, Académica Start UC has involved more than 6,600 participants, 950 partners, implemented more than 380 initiatives and trained a total of 228 Ambassadors.
The students awarded as Ambassadors of the Year receive an international training course in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Translation: Diana Taborda