From the mask that inactivates the virus to the beach traffic light. There is (a lot) of Portuguese technology in the fight against the new coronavirus

This post is part of a collaborative effort between Startup Portugal, The Next Big Idea, and Sapo24, meant to create relevant content to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Content available in Portuguese.

The new coronavirus took everyone by surprise and Portugal, like many other countries, felt a severe shortage of products necessary to face the pandemic. In an attempt to overcome this shortcoming, several companies, entities, and institutions have started to develop innovative solutions to help fight Covid-19.

As the new coronavirus has spread around the world, the demand for personal protective materials and medical equipment has increased. Since many countries didn’t have enough national production to meet these new needs, governments rushed to international markets to obtain the materials needed to face the pandemic.

As a result of this, there was a sharp increase in April in imports from the European Union from China, especially in textile products such as face masks, surgical masks, disposable face marks, and single use drapes, according to European Commission data.

In order to avoid the country’s reliance on the international stock of health materials and equipment, the Portuguese began to create innovative solutions to suppress the negative effects of the pandemic. In April, Portugal was classified by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as the country with the most innovative projects to combat Covid-19. OECD data show that there were 148 differentiating projects worldwide, 17 of which in Portugal, which corresponds to 11% of the total.

Thus, we have seen movements in Portugal such as 3D Mask Portugal, a community of volunteers that produced 24,000 visors on 3D printers, and Tech4Covid19, a movement of more than 5000 people who joined forces to work on various projects to help solve some of the problems caused by Covid-19. Our country has all kinds of innovative initiatives, not only community-based ones nor those focused on application and software development.

These are some of the hardware solutions developed by Portuguese companies, entities, and institutions to help fight Covid-19.

The first mask that inactivates the new coronavirus

The first textile and reusable mask that inactivates the new coronavirus was created in Portugal in a cooperation between the manufacturer Adalberto, the fashion retailer MO of Sonae Fashion, the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, the CITEVE technological center, and the University of Minho.

According to Pedro Simas, researcher and virologist from the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, “tests on the MOxAdtech mask revealed an effective inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 even after 50 washes, where a 99% viral reduction was observed after one hour of contact with the virus”.

The Hygistation kiosk

Famasete, a company from Vila Nova de Famalicão that manufactures interactive technology, redesigned its product and launched the Hygistation multifunction kiosk. This equipment has facial recognition, access control, body temperature measurement without touch, validation of the use of a mask, automatic disinfectant dispenser for hands, and queue management.

This kiosk developed by Wingsys, a brand created by Famasete, will respond to the growing need for health control and prevention of the spread of the new coronavirus. It will be used in public spaces such as restaurants, shops, airports, hospitals, beaches, shopping malls, among others.

The mobile disinfection unit Violet – Ultra Cleaner

The AAS – Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação Ambiental Lda and TIS – Technological and Intelligent Systems Lda have developed a piece of equipment capable of sterilizing spaces, surfaces, and objects efficiently, quickly, and without chemical agents. Violet – Ultra Cleaner is a mobile unit composed of germicidal UVC lamps that sterilize the air and surfaces in indoor spaces, eliminating bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. This device is designed to sterilize spaces such as bedrooms, living rooms, bath cases, offices, among others, to inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The SafePoint kiosk

Ésistemas, a company from Porto dedicated to the distribution of audiovisual solutions, integration devices, and audiovisual and multimedia equipment, has developed a digital kiosk and content management platform with a disinfectant gel dispenser. SafePoint includes several contents in Portuguese about Covid-19 that are available with the purchase of the product.

The Cleancare sterilization line

The digital printing solutions company MTEX NS, located in Vila Nova de Famalicão, also sought to develop new products. Thus, two pieces of equipment from its Cleancare line appeared: PHYS and PURE.