Brazilian startup wins Dengue Digital Innovation Challenge

Biopharmaceutics Takeda announces the winner of the Dengue Digital Innovation Challenge. The initiative invited startups and scale-ups from Brazil and Latin America to present innovative solutions to improve prevention and reduce the impact of dengue, through education and awareness about the disease. Among more than 50 applications, SisVetor, which is led by researchers from the Faculty of Health of the University of Brasília (UnB), was the chosen project. With this, you will have the opportunity to negotiate contracts with Takeda’s business units.

“With the Takeda Latin America Dengue Digital Innovation Challenge, our goal is to foster innovative initiatives to improve dengue awareness and prevention. Having a Brazilian winner is also a milestone, as we are facing the worst dengue epidemic in the country’s history this year. We need to unite on this journey to combat the disease”, says José Manuel Caamaño, president of Takeda Brasil.

SisVetor is an information and monitoring system for Aedes Aegypti, a mosquito that transmits arboviruses, such as dengue, chikungunya and zika. The device serves to support health authorities in vector control work by inverting the information collection process in which territorial intelligence is sought. The technology allows the configuration of territories and properties to be inspected, using cadastral and geolocation data, with coordinates and polygons on maps.

“It is gratifying to have our project win and, consequently, to have the opportunity to contribute to the prevention and fight against a disease that is so popular. Takeda’s initiative could provide the necessary support to carry out large-scale projects such as this one to combat arboviruses”, highlights Daniel Cardoso, CEO of SisVetor.

The Dengue Digital Innovation Challenge in Latin America is the first Open Innovation Challenge launched by Takeda on dengue and will be a model for executing similar initiatives in other endemic regions, such as Southeast Asia.