On 7 September and 23 November 2016, the first edition of the "Santa Casa Challenge" competition was held at the Department of Entrepreneurship and Social Economy of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Lisbon. The final presentation was made by the 12 finalist candidates, with 5 winners being determined, one for each area of activity and one for having obtained the highest score in the respective contest.
The Santa Casa Challenge is a contest of digital social innovation, which associates the new technologies with the social development and well-being of the population. Digital social innovation is a creative and collaborative process in which specialists from different areas, users and communities participate in the development of innovative technological solutions to respond to social problems and needs, exploiting the effects of information and communication technologies and the potential of networking.
The four areas of action for the contest were Social Action, Culture and Heritage, Social Economy and Health. For these, the three technological solutions pre-selected by the Santa Casa team were presented, consisting of representatives from the respective areas and from the Directorate of Systems and Information Technologies. Each candidate explained the technological solution to the competition for 5 minutes followed by a question and answer session by the jury members.
For this competition, it was essential to stimulate technological-based social entrepreneurship and to value the potential of social innovation, to respond to current societal challenges, as well as to create opportunities to bring together entrepreneurs and social startups from large specialized forums such as the Web Summit.
The final prize was a financial prize worth € 5000, delivered to the best-rated technology solutions in each of the four areas. The winners in health area were VR4Neuropain, a technological platform that associates virtual reality with sensory and motor stimulation with application in the process of rehabilitation of the patient with vertebro-medullar lesion especially in neuropathic pain.
