JA Start-up 2022: First Prize for the digital idea of ​​DMST team

JA Start-up 2022:

First Prize for the digital idea of ​​DMST team

The Department of Management Science and Technology (DMST) of Athens University of Economics (AUEB) and its students keep on the tradition of distinctions in the National Student Competition of Innovation and Entrepreneurship "JA Start Up", since the team “Drug n Drop” acquired the first place in “JA Start Up 2022”, organized by Junior Achievement Greece.

The National Competition "JA Start Up 2022" was held on Friday, June 3, 2022. DMST teams "Drug n Drop", "Collar Doc", "NapeaZZZ" and "Hydrop", competed with the 10 best Greek student "startups" that had been created in the framework of the European training program "JA Start Up", and were evaluated by specialized executives of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The inter-university team "Drug n Drop" with DMST students, Nikolaos Angelos Spirellis and Alexandra Vasilaki and Ioannis Spirellis, from the Department of Pharmacy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens won the first prize. The "Drug n Drop" digital concept is an integrated short-term drug management system, consisting of an intelligent collection bin for medication that is (or has already) expired, as well as a smartphone application that utilizes all of the data coming from the bin to provide value-adding services to the industry value chain. The bin consists of sensors measuring capacity, humidity and temperature, as well as a barcode scanner allowing the identification, recording and management of medication packs placed inside.

Altogether, the value of the digital idea is found on three dimensions, as many as the dimensions of the global drug disposal problem: The first is economic, as the pharmaceutical organizations waste significant amounts of money due to drugs being disposed of after having expired. The second is environmental, as according to the World Health Organization 15% of discarded drugs become toxic to the environment. And the third is the social one, as currently while medicines are massively disposed of due to expiration, 120 public benefit organizations in Greece face a shortage of medicines.

The innovative digital concept of “Drug n Drop” as well as the remaining concepts with which students from DMST participated in the finals, had been developed in the context of the course “Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. As tutor Dr. Stavros Lounis highlighted “The course has been developed and evolved over the course of many years with the aim to maximize the value that solutions stemming from students can bring to major sectorial issues with the use of new technologies and flexible business models. During the course, the students develop their proposals through the phases of new digital service design by identifying and evaluating an entrepreneurial opportunity in digital business, conducting market research, creating business model(s), designing and developing a functional software and hardware prototype (IoT Focused) and in the end presenting and seeking funding. The collaborative effort, the commitment shown by the students and the focus on digital innovation and prototype development has enabled the teams to present proposals that solve large-scale problems in different industries. Lastly, nothing would have been possible without the guidance of Prof. Georgios I. Doukidis who had the inspiration for the course.”

It is worth noting that in the finals of the competition the following student teams from DMST were also competing:

• “Collar Doc” by Aliki-Aikaterini Van nten Vaouer – Apostolidou, Maria Tzianakaki, Aggelos Konstantopoulos and Panagiotis Lapatas: CollarDoc is a modern, innovative solution for monitoring animal health. It can be utilized both for pets and production animals, while at the same time it can be adapted to the needs of the customer. It enables the prevention of the deterioration of the health of pets and production animals, thus saving thousands of lives. In addition, not only it provides owners and veterinarians with a complete picture of their animal health at all times, but also helps reduce unnecessary medical expenses.
• “Hydrop” by Eirini Maria Nikolakopoulou, Aggeliki Papadopoulou, Xristina Kardami and Konstantina Artemis Psixogiou: "Hydrop" is a smart device that is installed in water pipes and allows the measurement of water flow, the pressure inside the pipes, temperature and pH, thus providing an integrated solution for measuring the consumption of water resources, the control of quality and timely notification of leaks. The user has access to data through an application that offers centralized monitoring of all the above indicators. Hydrop is developed for various industries, agricultural businesses and municipalities facing water leakage problems.
• “NapeaZZZ” by Mavromaras Nikos, Petsas Giannis, Piperou Eirini, Sargenti Giota and Tsaousis Dimitris: napeaZZZ is a smart device that is integrated into a pillow and monitors the quality of the baby's sleep. The device uses sensors to monitor movement, sound, temperature and humidity and informs parents or caregivers when the measurements are not normal. 

It should also be pointed out that the digital idea "Drug n Drop" has been shortlisted for the "Digital Health Innovation" award (by Novartis) final nominees.

Also, teams’ next milestone is the Pan-European Festival / Youth Entrepreneurship Competition Gen-E 2022 - JA Europe, which will take place in Tallinn, Estonia from 12 to 14 July 2022, where "Drug n Drop" will represent the Greece and claim distinction.