The startup Orby, founded by Maria Eduarda Franklin, master in neuroengineering from the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), was champion in the HackBrazil competition of the Brazil Conference at Harvard and MIT 2023. The event took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the end of the month March. 

In all, 75 companies signed up for the competition, which included several selection stages until reaching the on-site stage in the United States. In the end, five Brazilian companies were invited to present their products to a panel made up of representatives of large companies such as Stone, Nomad (formerly IBM) and Acquion Food Tech. 

“People generally don't believe in our work until it's been put to the test. You can't put into words the feeling of going up on stage and seeing people applauding after we present our results”, says Maria Eduarda. 

The product audionics, a low-cost sound amplification device developed by Orby, was considered by the evaluators as the one with the greatest potential to generate social impact for Brazil and financial sustainability. “The competition was very fierce, because we were competing with companies that have been around for years, which have been in the market for a long time and are supported by large groups. It was an honor to have our product considered the winner among them”, says the neuroengineer. 

With the victory, Orby won R$ 75 thousand reais. For Maria Eduarda, however, the competition's biggest prize was the possibility of meeting and talking to big names in the scientific and technological area who could help the company grow. “The conference allowed us to count with high performance people in the market. We were able to exchange ideas, talk, all of which was extremely valuable and opened many doors that will make Orby grow even more”, he highlights.