know our
History
X-COV started with a pandemic,
that we wanted to face with knowledge, creativity, technology and humanism.
Birth, Vision and Mission
X-COV was born because of a pandemic. The COVID-19 was devastating the earth and while Spain and other parts of the world were entering a state of alarm, a group of people decided to act.
Aware of the situation of many doctors and that technology could be a great help to them, they wanted to pitch in.
The main objective of X-COV is to help doctors, patients and hospitals. We want to put technology at the service of health and develop tools that help us to overcome the enormous challenge we all face.
Values and culture
Knowledge, creativity, humanism and ethics
We are researchers, so all our actions and products are based on scientific knowledge. In addition to this, creativity is a fundamental aspect of any science and we take advantage of it to give it the value it deserves in these lines. For us, knowledge, creativity and technology must be at the service of human beings and improve their lives. We like science and humanist technologies, those that are sensitive to society’s problems and committed to solving them. Finally, we have to mention ethics, since they are our compass in all our processes and creations.
Multidisciplinarity, transversality of knowledge and broadening of horizons:
We are a multidisciplinary team to which we are linked by our vision, mission, culture, values and certain knowledge. Furthermore, we are aware that our differences make us stronger. Firstly because they allow us to see, imagine and create, much more than we would do separately. Second, because life is not locked up in little boxes and it is good to attend to problems from different sides in order to understand things in depth. And thirdly, because when different disciplines strengthen each other they can develop marvellous things more quickly and successfully.
Agility, learning and continuous improvement:
Today’s world is evolving at a dizzying pace, even more so in terms of technology. If you don’t keep up to date and work quickly, you will become obsolete in the blink of an eye. Moreover, as the COVID-19 has taught us, life can change overnight. Being highly adaptable is the best strategy.
KNOW OUR HISTORY
An incredible journey, turning an idea into reality.
- 04/2020: WE START WORKING
- 4 and 5/4/2020: Hackathon Madrid #VenceAlVirus (powered by Comunidad de Madrid)
- 24-26/4/2020: European Hackathon #EUvsVirus (powered by the European Commission)
- 21-27/4/2020: Hackathon UNESCO #CodeTheCurve (organised by UNESCO, IBM and SAP)
- 05/2020 First Prize Compluemprende
- 06/2020 ARRIVAL OF IMPORTANT RESOURCES
Summary of his career
The first step was taken by Joaquín Lopez Herraiz. Sad news encouraged him to propose his idea to colleagues and students related to the Nuclear Physics Department of the Complutense University. A few of them joined him and decided to present themselves at the Madrid Hackathon #VenceAlVirus, where they would meet the rest of the team members.
From hackathon to hackathon and after a lot of work, in very few weeks we developed an innovative, powerful and accessible tool. This allowed us to win several awards and recognitions at national and international level.
In addition to helping us develop our work in an agile way, all these experiences have allowed us to obtain feedback from experts in different countries, to enter various promotion programmes and to receive funding for resources, advice and training. Thanks to this, we continue to work very well on the X-COV Project and are improving day by day.
Today we are part of the Nuclear Physics Group (GFN-UCM) and the Institute of Particles and Physics of the Cosmos (IPARCOS-UCM), both from the Complutense University of Madrid.
Hackathon Madrid #VenceAlVirus
Promoted by Community of Madrid (4 and 5/4/2020)
The starting pistol and the first big push. Hackathons are the best environment for developing an idea, until it becomes a prototype, as well as the best school for learning agile methodologies.
Although many of us didn’t even know each other, it was surprising how much we all tuned in. In a very short time we managed to make a functional prototype of the tool, the first website and our first promotional video.
With this we managed to be one of the 20 projects selected, we obtained our official seal of approval as finalists of the Hackathon #VenceAlVirus and we entered the Hackathon Impulse Program for the awarded projects (Ministry of Science, Universities and Innovation of the Community of Madrid and Fundación para el Conocimiento Madri+D).
Hackathon Europeo #EUvsVirus
Promoted by the European Commission (24-26/4/2020)
Second big push. From #vencealvirus they encouraged us to introduce ourselves to the European hackathon. In the bases they already announced that they were looking for ways to do massive screening, so we knew that it was very difficult to win: But it was also another great opportunity to boost the project again, to keep improving the tool and the web, to develop interesting contacts and to give more diffusion to X-COV. We set to the task.
In fact, at that time we were already thinking about the possibilities of adapting X-COV’s tools to be used in ultrasound scans as well. The best thing about Artificial Intelligence is its versatility. Joaquín was already in talks for future projects, which are present today, such as ULTRA-COV (first ultrasound machine oriented to lung pathologies and early detection and monitoring of COVID-19 disease, GFN-UCM, CSIC and DASEL).
Hackathon UNESCO #CodeTheCurve
Organised by UNESCO, IBM and SAP (21-27/4/2020)
Third great impulse, up to the stars. In that intense week we were divided into two groups. One would work in the European hackathon while the other would be in the UNESCO hackathon. We were the only Spanish project selected to participate.
We scientists usually rely on facts, but this time, even before we started, some of us had a hunch, which was confirmed a few days later. The X-COV Project was the winner in the “Social Issues and Health” and “Master Winners” categories of the Hackathon (overall winner).
And as we entered the UNESCO #CodeTheCurve Hackathon Drive Programme (UNESCO, SAP and IBM), the media started calling.
First Prize CompluEmprende UCM
First prize CompluEmprende
The Universidad Complutense, aware of the need to invest in research related to COVID-19, wanted to give extra support to the hackathon #vencealvirus projects that had some link to the university.
The X-COV Project won the First Prize CompluEmprende, receiving with it funding and entering the Program of Impulse of CompluEmprende.
Other major supports
Hospital support
A fundamental aspect of the success of our project is the collaboration of important hospitals in the Community of Madrid. Their valuable collaboration and feedback is essential to us. In this sense we would like to thank the Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid, the Hospital Universitario de Fuenlabrada, the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre and the Hospital Rúber Juan Bravo.
Technological support
Finally, we must mention the interest that the project has generated in various companies and the support received from them. Major technologies such as Google Cloud and Amazon AWS have given us funding in computer resources and Repsol-Sinopec has allowed us to use the SENAI CIMATEC supercomputing cluster in Brazil.
partners
Present and future
All these collaborations, aids and resources allow us to have a positive, fast and fluid evolution, facilitating that we continue improving continuously our tools and the whole X-COV Project.
The continuous improvement of our tools and projects is one of our fundamental values, so that our present focuses on that task. But without forgetting the future, above all because that future is another form of improvement for X-COV. Now, part of the future is already present, like the ULTRA-COV Project.
