ISEL played an important role in the 2024 edition of the Digital Generation Award, an initiative promoted by Siemens with the aim of encouraging young talents to contribute to the modernization of national industry. Among the 12 competing projects, coming from 7 national universities and institutes, 5 teams were selected for the final phase, including the ISEL team.

Caetano Gaspar, a student of the Master's in Mechanical Engineering (MEM), represented ISEL in the competition, under the guidance of professor Francisco Campos (DEM/ISEL) and professor Mário Mendes (DEM/ISEL). The presented project, entitled "Virtual commissioning of a surgical mask production line", stood out among the best, being a finalist in the competition.

The final took place on January 24, 2025, at Siemens' facilities in Alfragide, where the five finalists presented their projects before a jury composed of professionals from Siemens, the Order of Engineers, Cadflow and BOOL.

The ISEL project was one of the five best, reinforcing the quality and talent of our institution's students.

As a TOP 5 finalist, ISEL received a SIMATIC IoT2050 training package and an IoT2000 input/output module, equipment that will be used in the laboratory supporting MEM and Mechanical Engineering Degree (LEM) curricular units. Siemens and Cadflow also offered 100 licenses of the SIEMENS NX software (50 - NX Academic - Core & CAD XaaS and 50 - NX Academic - CAE & CAM XaaS, valid until 2027, which are already available to ISEL students and professors. In addition, they offered a license of the Mechatronic Concept Design (MCD) software for Caetano Gaspar to develop his project and the final master's thesis (TFM).

The 2024 Digital Generation Award was a unique opportunity to demonstrate the innovative capacity of our students.