Startup incubated at UIAg wins Altice International Innovation Award

The startup expressTEC, led by Ana Teresa Maia and Joana Xavier, researchers at the University of Algarve’s Centre of Investigation in Health Technologies and Health Services (CINTESIS) was the winner of the Altice International Innovation Award 2023. It is the 6th award the startup has won within the space of two years.

expressTEC won the award for its ‘expressPIC’ project, a solution that offers diagnostics for personalised treatments for breast cancer.
At the 7th edition of the Altice International Innovation Awards – an award that aims to promote and recognise entrepreneurism and technological talent – the company incubated at UAIg Tech Start – incubator CRIA won in the startup category.
The startup was one of 116 candidates and made it to the grand final of the competition to win a grand prize of €50,000.
Competing in the startup category, expressTEC presented an innovative test to the jury that made it possible to identify women that had a specific genetic mutation that would enabled a more personalised therapy to be applied, and one that is more directed to the problem.
As the founders explain “the project aims to “correct” a large number of blanket-all treatments that are being used to treat the cancer, and instead targets more specifically certain proteins.”
This is the 6th innovation and entrepreneurial award won by the company in the space of two years, which emphasises the continued recognition and importance of this project on both the national and international panorama and reaffirms its commitment to excellence and innovation.