The Aurora team was the big winner of this year’s edition of the Business Project course unit, a joint initiative between Ciências ULisboa and ISCTE that challenges students to transform innovative ideas into business models with market potential.
Business Project challenges students to turn Science into innovative businesses
Lídia Belourico
Innovation•6 July, 2026
Aurora was the big winner of this year’s edition: a project that was born from the collaboration between four students of the Master’s in Energy and Environmental Engineering at Ciências ULisboa and three finalists of the Bachelor’s in Finance and Accounting at ISCTE.
The project was born from the collaboration between four students of the Master’s in Energy and Environmental Engineering at Ciências ULisboa (Mário Vilas, Mário Farinha, Gonçalo Gouveia and Matilde Santos) and three finalists of the Bachelor’s in Finance and Accounting at ISCTE (Juan Kouzyk, Dinis Candoso and João Soeiro). The result was the development of a device capable of producing, storing and using electricity in off‑grid environments, such as campsites or emergency scenarios.
Business Project challenges students to transform innovative ideas into business models with market potential.
“The idea was born at Ciências, through conversations with Professor Miguel Brito and Professor Jorge Maia Alves, which later evolved into a true business plan during the classes taught by Professor Teresa Vieira and Professor Marco Pinheiro, where we had to focus on our value proposition, competition, industry analysis, all the legal aspects of obtaining patents and licences, etc.,” explains Mário Vilas, member of the winning team.
“The idea was born at Ciências, through conversations with Professor Miguel Brito and Professor Jorge Maia Alves, which later evolved into a true business plan during the classes taught by Professor Teresa Vieira and Professor Marco Pinheiro.”
Throughout the semester, the multidisciplinary teams worked not only on the technological component of the projects, but also on the value proposition, market analysis, competition, intellectual property and commercialisation strategy. In the case of the Aurora project, development went beyond the theoretical component.
“As well as carrying out the entire theoretical
process of developing Aurora, we were also focused on building a physical prototype that we could use and show during the presentations — something that certainly set us apart from the other groups,” highlights Mário Vilas.
“As well as carrying out the entire theoretical process of developing Aurora, we were also focused on building a physical prototype that we could use and show during the presentations."
This year’s edition concluded with a public pitch session during which the teams presented their projects before an external jury. In addition to Aurora, the teams Lyra, which secured second place, and Consenth, which achieved third place, were also recognised.
Following their victory, the team intends to continue developing the project. “Our focus now will be to keep developing Aurora during our master’s theses, so that in the near future we can become a spin‑off of Ciências,” concludes the winner.