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ADN Awards – the winners of the first edition have been announced

The award winners were announced at the first ADN Awards Gala that took place on April 21st, World Creativity and Innovation Day.

ADN Awards – the winners of the first edition have been announced

The ADN Awards Gala was held today, culminating in the announcement of the winners of the first edition of the “Agir Diferente na NOVA (ADN)” Award, created to identify, encourage, disseminate, and leverage innovative management best practices existing in the Institution.

To make this moment even more significant, the ceremony coincided with World Creativity and Innovation Day, celebrated by about two hundred members of the NOVA community, including award candidates, the rectoral team, and other guests, who were present at the Nova SBE facilities in Carcavelos.

A total of 46 applications were submitted, with 28 of them presenting new approaches and 18 creating new concepts. "As Rector, it is a great pride to see the adherence that the first edition of the ADN Award had among our community," said João Sàágua, stressing that NOVA values the collaborative spirit of all its elements, and it is with the participation of all that we can make the University better. "People are NOVA's most valuable resource, one that is essential for the quality of its mission of serving society through knowledge," concluded the Rector.

From the large number of best practices identified in NOVA, three projects were awarded in this first edition, according to an evaluation made by external members of the corresponding jury:

“Implementation of an Open School Model in the University”, a joint project between ENSP and NOVA IMS, which received the Quidgest Award. The portrayed best practice is based on two fundamental pillars: i) quality education in the STEM area (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics); ii) collaboration among teachers, students, researchers, entrepreneurs, STEM professionals, and other academy partners. This project promotes open education, classroom-level work, and informal education spaces that bring real problems and support innovation and creativity in students in developing solutions.

“FIT4FUNDING”, a joint project between FCT NOVA, NOVA IMS, NOVA FCSH, and NMS, which received the KPMG Award. The best practice results from the development of a common training programme for researchers from different Organic Units who plan to submit applications to European funds. This training programme, in addition to encouraging the application for European projects, also aimed to enhance collaborations and synergies among the different knowledge areas of NOVA.

“NOVA Impact - Entrepreneurship Promotion”, a project presented by the Rectorate, which received the Digitalis Award. This approach, aimed at developing initiatives within the student community, aims to contribute to changing the mindset and continuous training of the next generation of entrepreneurs.

There was also an honorable mention awarded to the project:

“NOVA Life on Wiki”, presented by the Rectorate,it is a platform, a flexible and team workspace where information produced and circulating in NOVA can be consolidated, managed, recorded, stored, and consulted in a transversal way. It also allows monitoring projects and their tasks more quickly, aiding daily information management between the Rectorate and the Constituent Units.

"In the year that NOVA celebrates 50 years of contributions to iNOVAation, it is important to identify and recognize the existence of organizational innovation projects within NOVA itself," said Pedro Saraiva, Vice-Rector of NOVA for Organizational Innovation and Digital Transformation. Given the quantity and quality of the applications submitted to this first edition of the ADN Awards, from teams of collaborators from all faculties and constituent entities of NOVA, the Vice-Rector also highlighted that "this is a great sign of vitality and constant search for ways to do even more and better at NOVA. Students, teachers and collaborators responded positively to our challenge and we could not be more satisfied with the success achieved in this first edition of the ADN Awards, one of the aspects of the Agenda for Organizational Innovation that NOVA has defined and is implementing."

The ADN Award Jury was chaired by Vice-Rector Pedro Saraiva and composed of the President of INA, the Administrator of the University of Aveiro, and representatives of two private companies. This Award was also sponsored by DIGITALIS, KPMG, and QUIDGEST.