PowerLearn chosen best innovative project of the 7th edition of the Generating Ideas Programme

The project PowerLearn, created by researchers from the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute, the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, the EUI Gimbernat and the UAB, proposes designing an online platform which can detect neurodevelopmental disorders which can affect school performance.

21/06/2018

The UAB Research Park and the CORE in Mental Health awarded prizes to the three winning projects in the seventh edition of the Generating Ideas Programme, an initiative which aims to foster the creation of projects aimed at improving the diagnosis, treatment and handling of mental disorders, as well as promoting the emotional well-being of different groups.

The first prize, which includes 2,500 Euros in cash and six months incubation at the Eureka building of the UAB Research Park, went to the PowerLearn project, an online platform based on artificial intelligence which can quickly and reliably identify and monitor neurodevelopmental disorders affecting school performance.

According to the creators of the project, the high frequency of school failure is directly related to the low detection of these neurodevelopmental disorders, since less than 12% of students are correctly diagnosed. Currently there are no simple, reliable and efficient tools capable of offering an early detection of these disorders. for this reason, PowerLearn aims to design a platform using a diagnosis-therapeutic algorithms which can detect early stages of the disorders and propose lines of action to maintain a good school performance and avoid any associated behavioural alterations. The application is efficient, visually attractive, user-friendly and economic, and will prevent the need for all the currently existing slow, complicated, difficult and expensive screening systems.

The project has been launched by Rosa Bosch, psychologist at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR); Lissette Lemus, researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA CSIC); Cecilia Brando, lecturer at the EUI Gimbernat and PhD student at the UAB; Gabriela A. Rangel, PhD student at the UAB; Gemma Español; doctor and researcher at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR); and Miquel Casas, professor in psychiatry at the UAB and researcher at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR).

The second prize, which includes 1,500 Euros and six months of incubation at the Eureka Building of the UAB Research Park, was awarded to NAT-FM, a project proposing the development of a psychological intervention service as treatment for patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia, through the protocol NAT-FM (Nature-Adventure-Therapy for FibroMyalgia) and a motivational change in lifestyle programme.

Behind this project is Antoni Sanz, lecturer at the UAB; Jordi Méndez, researcher at the UAB Stress and Health Research Group; Mayte Serrat, PhD student at the UAB; Mercè Muñoz, nurse at the EUI Gimbernat; and Elisa Poses, from the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS).
All of the members pointed out that the integration of nature into cognitive-behavioural therapy achieves to restore and boost the functional capacities of patients, improve their well-being, and produce a profound change in their lifestyle, which is also a benefit to the social environment of these patients.

The project B2 GAME is a proposal to treat stress and anxiety suffered by patients admitted to mental health institutions, received third prize and was awarded 1,000 Euros. Nurses at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau Alba González, Elisabet Valenzuela and Marta Castillo created a board game with which to entertain patients and thus lower their levels of anxiety and need for the attention of healthcare workers, while at the same time improve the awareness of their disorder, reduce related stigma and acquire healthy habits.

The projects were assessed by a jury formed by experts from the sector: Salva Gutierrez, CEO at MJN Neuroserveis; Clara Campàs, mentor at dhealth and founder of the new capital funds Assabys; Noemí Robles, head of the UAB CORE in Mental Health and Narcís Cardoner, psychiatrist at the Parc Taulí-University Hospital. These prizes are given in recognition of the technological and economic viability of the projects, as well as of other factors such as degree of innovation, state of development, business model, the needs of the market and quality of the presentation.

This edition of the programme included the sponsorship of the Sant Cugat Town Council and the Barcelona Synchrotron Park, as well as the support of the Ministry for Business and Knowledge and the co-funding of the European Social Fund, through its Catalunya Emprèn Programme.