Electro Day returns to the Técnico Innovation Center powered by Fidelidade on July 5, bringing together the community of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC) to celebrate innovation in an academic environment. The central theme of this initiative is the ElectroCap Demo Day, the final activity of the ElectroCap program.

In its debut in 2024, the event involved 182 students, featured 32 challenges, and attracted around 1,000 visitors—reinforcing the importance and ongoing interest surrounding this initiative.

The ElectroCap Program represents an innovative approach to education, inspired by best international practices, and offered within the context of the 1st Cycle Integrative Project curricular unit (PIC1). Its main goal is to create conditions for students to apply as many of the concepts learned during their undergraduate studies as possible to solving a real-world problem or challenge, engaging them in an initiative that brings value to themselves, to Técnico, and to society.

This objective is extended to the development of three key competencies essential for students' futures: the ability to use technology to solve problems, the ability to innovate and create value from knowledge, and the ability to effectively communicate processes, technologies used, and results achieved.

To align the program’s structure with students’ future professional experience, each project is developed by a team of six members. Each team chooses an innovation challenge, defines an approach to the underlying problem, talks to potential customers, researches competitors, and develops an innovative and valuable solution for the community.

Based on the chosen challenge, each team submitted a project proposal for ElectroCap, approved by a scientific advisor, along with a plan for the work to be carried out during the second semester. Throughout the semester, team members report project progress on the project’s webpage, hold biweekly meetings with their teaching assistant, and meet periodically with their advisor or mentor. Additionally, they attend a series of program seminars on topics related to innovation and electrical and computer engineering. Midway through the semester, each team submitted an interim presentation outlining the project's development status and the plan for remaining activities.

The highlight of the program is the ElectroCap Demo Day, held during Electro Day, where teams present their project results to the community. Each team will have a booth where they display their project evaluation materials, which include a poster, a pitch deck presentation, a 3-minute video, and a prototype demonstrating their solution.

Visitor feedback on the teams’ presentations will be considered in the final evaluation.