Innovation in sports injury prevention wins EIT Health Alumni Showcase pitching

Finals held at Sorbonne University

Researchers from the University of Porto and the University of Naples Federico II won the final competition of the EIT Health Alumni Showcase pitch contest with an innovation to prevent injury in athletes.

The event took place at the University of Sorbonne (Paris) and gathered winners from Alumni Showcase competitions around the EIT Health network.

Hernâni Zão Oliveira, from the University of Porto, and and Nancy Capobianco, from the University of Naples, are team members of a project called GE5 Risk Scale, which received the “Best Pitch Award” for a method that aims to revolutionise the prevention of sports injuries in high-competition athletes.

The winning team, which competed against five other teams, consists of excellent researchers such as Nancy Capobianco from Economics, Management, Institutions Department of the Univesity of Naples Frederico II, Marina Rincon Torroella from Spain, Richard Jalakas from Estonia, Oana Motea and Sveatoslav Vizitiu from Romania.

It was the beginning of 2018 when Hernâni Zão was selected to join the EIT Health StarShip programme. The six-element multicultural team which Hernani was a part of was able to successfully develop, through a Bio-design approach, a platform concept which evaluates on the basis of scales and safety margins 30 descriptive indicators of athletes’ physical and psychological health statuses as a way to prevent injuries that may occur as a result of situations of non-contact between athletes.

This challenge was proposed by GE Healthcare, discussed by consultants from FIFA and validated in real healthcare settings, with the guidance of the StarShip academic team.

Based on Hernâni’s statement, EIT Health is an incredible platform for disseminating, competing and developing work. “Being a part of this international project has been an amazingly challenging journey. This is a team highly committed to finding solutions for real problems in the soccer world. So, for seven months, we have talked to professional players, doctors and trainees, just so we could know the challenges sports medicine really faces” Hernâni explained.