Fluyo, the first smart pantyliner designed by undergraduate and graduate students in Biomedical Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) is already a success. It has won first prize in the European iDays EIT Health competition, winning first at the UPV and later in Vienna.
Fluyo consists of a pantyliner capable of detecting changes in the PH, consistency, color and odor of vaginal discharge. It works with a mobile app that uses the device camera to identify and record changes, as well as display trend graphs. With these parameters, the application informs women of any type of anomaly in terms of infections, inflammations or sexually transmitted diseases.
For the creators, Coral Blanquer, Sara Pérez, Ekaterina Panova and Laura Almendros, this recognition “is a catapult that will help us speed up the project and be able to carry it out. We feel extremely grateful and embraced by the university and European community, who have share our enthusiasm for the project and want to see it out on the market already.”
i-Days Competition
The i-Days Competition promotes innovation in healthcare among university students through dozens of one- and two-day programs held at academic institutions across Europe. Students from all academic fields receive an introduction to practical health innovation tools and compete in teams to tackle real-life health challenges posed by EIT Health, local organizations, private corporations, or start-ups.
Prior to the i-Days Competition in Valencia, a round table was held to analyze the problems to be solved in the healthcare field that require a solution or improvement, as well as new challenges, with the aim of promoting and energizing the ideas of the student body.
Experts in different areas of the healthcare sector participated in this round table:
Carlos M. Atienza , Director of Health Technology at the Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia (IBV)
Mila Sycheva, Head of Operations and Diversification at the Valencian Community Digital District
Pilar Sánchez , Safor Salut technical expert at Campus Gandia (UPV)
Amparo Arlandis , technical expert for the Safor Salut program in the Innovation Area at Fisabio,
iDays EIT Health Valencia is held annually and is organized by José Millet, a professor at the UPV, and as mentor Óscar Morant,, a technical expert from IDEAS UPV (Gandia Campus), among other collaborators.
Fluyo was selected among the 19 projects presented at the iDays EIT Health Valencia of the UPV, with the participation of students representing 27 different nationalities from more than 30 degrees and majors at the Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate levels.
iDays Valencia is sponsored by the Generalitat Valenciana, the Valencia City Council and the Gandia City Council, among other entities, with the collaboration of Safor Salut, which is in charge of the search for partners and supporting the implementation of the idea.
Gandia e-Health District
The Ministry of Innovation, through the Valencian Community Digital District, alongside the Innsomnia accelerator and the Gandia City Council, is advancing its Gandia e-Health District project, with new revitalization and technological transformation actions that seek to turn the city into a pole for digital innovation and research for the healthcare sector. This is the added value provided by the new Distrito e-Health technology hub, located as of a few days ago in the Town Hall building next to Campus Gandia of the Universitat Politècnica de València.
The inauguration was attended by the General Director for the Advancement of the Digital Society in the Generalitat Valenciana, Juan Ignacio Torregrosa; as well as representatives of the Ministry of Universal Health and Public Health; the mayor of Gandia, José Manuel Prieto; the head of projects at Innsomnia, Francesc Pons, and the professor at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), José Millet, representatives of Campus Gandia and Safor Salut, alongside various startups in the healthcare challenge, and large corporations such as Novartis and technological institutes.
For his part, José Manuel Prieto, mayor of Gandia, stressed the importance of this hub for strengthening the Valencian business and healthcare fabric. “We have the best location to become a point of reference for health and well-being in the entire Valencian Community. We have the will, the business ecosystem and the support of the institutions. These are the best ingredients for the success of the Digital District and to persevere in a city model that looks after the well-being of its citizens”, he highlighted.
Precisely, personalized care, interconnectivity and quality of care were three of the topics discussed by the authorities, health experts and entrepreneurs during the presentation ceremony. The dynamics adopted by the companies that are already installed there were explained there, as well as the data obtained in the pilot tests that have been implemented by the startups: Movsa, Legit.Health, Mediktor and Tucuvi.
The event also served to present the Fluyo project, a project that had won first prize at the European iDays EIT Health just a few days prior.
