With 4 stages and over 150 speakers, the 10 student teams that participated in the five editions of Apps for Good filled the Tech Talks Stage with their Pitch and the exhibition area with the Marketplace of their technological solutions.
To open the Pitch Moment, Filipe Almeida, President of the Mission Structure Portugal Inovação Social, told the story of how his daughters led him to understand the true meaning of “helping those most in need in a creative way”. If the Apps for Good teams did not exist, the future would certainly be very different, he indicated, encouraging them not to give up.
There was also room for debate about what happens to the technological solutions developed by students after Apps for Good, with António Silva from the Directorate-General for Education, Sandra Aparício from GALP, Filipe Almeida from Portugal Inovação Social and Fátima Caçador, editor of SAPO Tek.
In terms of funding, Portugal Inovação Social creates, according to Filipe Almeida, “conditions for young social entrepreneurs to experiment their projects on a larger scale” by collaborating with about 320 investors from all sectors. Currently, “Portugal is the only country in Europe that has a social entrepreneurship programme”, he added.

Sandra Aparício from GALP, indicated that the company wants not only to instil in young people the spirit of social entrepreneurship, but also to increase their visibility so that they can attract the necessary investment to materialise their projects.

In Portugal there are “very good solutions”, says António Silva of the Directorate-General for Education. As he indicates, the evolution of Apps for Good is due not only to CDI Portugal, “but also to the intervention of teachers”, and the programme is already preparing young people for the challenges they will encounter in the labor market, while encouraging them to create a more sustainable future.

Clear proposals for the 4th Sustainable Development Goal were present on the second day of the Digital Summit, such as, the app “Book Routes” to help in the interpretation of the mandatory reading “1936, O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis” by José Saramago,  the app “Johnny Learns” that supports students with more difficulties in learning, “Coursly”, that helps future university students in the process of deciding their course, or even with “Smart Study” that allows the student not to be distracted from his study by the stimuli of the mobile phone.
In the health area, “SOS Alzheimer” which allows caregivers to have more information on Alzheimer’s, in their monitoring and follow-up of the patient, and “onlyHEAL”, which is a new communication channel between users and pharmacists.
As far as solutions for the environment, “EcoA” makes it possible to reconcile physical well-being with the well-being of the planet and “MustBeGreen” facilitates communication between land owners and companies engaged in the forest cleaning service.
At a local level, with “Move in Pico” it is possible to access all the schedules of all the aerobus, sightseeing and rent-a-car services in Pico Island and, at a global level, “Color You”, which will facilitate the daily life of any person who has difficulties in perceiving colours and intends to divulge the alphabet of colours developed by ColorADD.