Neuroengineer Maria Eduarda Franklin, who graduated from the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), was one of those selected for the development phase of the Paraíba Northeast Startup Program, with the startup Orby. Focused on developing innovative products for the functional rehabilitation market, Orby was ranked first among 26 other winning initiatives. 

In total, more than 150 companies went through three selection stages. In the current phase, called the development stage, the selected projects receive an innovation incentive grant, a subsidy for training human resources, project execution and technology, product or process development. In the case of Orby, the selected project was the Audionics product. 

Audionics is a hearing aid (HA) powered by artificial intelligence and integrated into an app. mobile. The product's objective is to filter noise in environments that limit the listening range, providing a better quality of life and sound perceived by users. According to Maria Eduarda, this filtering is not supported by most devices sold in Brazil.

The neuroengineer says that now, with the classification for the funding phase, the project will undergo clinical validation and evaluation by agencies such as Anvisa, before entering the market. In addition, the company is developing the commercial prototype and pilot testing, which will help determine how the product will reach the user for the first time. 

In addition to Audionics, Maria Eduarda has already led other projects supported by entrepreneurship promotion programs with startup Orby of health solutions, previously selected in the Catalisa Program. 

The neuroengineer believes it is extremely important to encourage scientists to take advantage of opportunities that bring science to the market. “Our society needs qualified people who embrace the idea of bringing transformative solutions to the market. Encouraging more masters, doctors and undergraduates is extremely timely, because in this way we advance, as a society, aligned with innovation”, she emphasizes.

ISD research professor André Dantas, who advised Maria Eduarda during her master's degree, positively evaluates the results shown by Orby and believes that the presence of scientists in production aimed at the market is essential.

“Stimulating entrepreneurship and fostering startups It is important for the development of scientific products to be aimed at the public and to arrive with quality and accessibility. It is difficult to have a new product that can be distributed commercially and compete with what already exists on the market, which is why support is so essential to overcome this difficulty”, says the professor.