Sophia Cheto, a Computer Science graduate from FCUP, is one of the authors of one of the 50 finalist ideas in the Santander X Explorer program.
What if it were possible to fight wildfires faster and more accurately? That’s what two students from Porto are aiming to do with the FireHawk AI project, which is among the 50 finalists of the Santander X Explorer program, whose 2025 edition received more than 6000 applications.
Sophia Cheto, from the Bachelor’s in Computer Science at FCUP, and Clarisse Cecconi, a Computer Engineering student at the Instituto Politécnico de Gestão e Tecnologia (ISLA Gaia), are using this startup accelerator program, aimed at young people from all over the world, for networking and to find partners to turn their idea into reality.
“FireHawk AI aims to integrate artificial intelligence and real-time monitoring for faster and more effective wildfire response,” explains Sophia Cheto. The goal is for the model to be able to predict fire risks in advance, based on weather data captured by sensors or satellites, and to intelligently calculate the use and allocation of available resources. “By using supervised Machine Learning algorithms, trained with past and current data, it’s possible to reduce response time by up to 80%,” believes the student, based on projects already applied in other countries.
The platform can create automatic alerts according to the associated risks and suggest the allocation of resources to higher-risk areas, replacing traditional methods based on images and manual actions. The goal of the project is to be a reliable and efficient solution to minimize environmental damage and protect vulnerable communities.
At this stage, the students are building contacts to make FireHawk AI a reality. “We’re in contact with a consultant in Brazil, some researchers, and also with an environmental monitoring company,” says Sophia, who started this work during the Human–Computer Interaction course at FCUP.
The students worked on the project for several months, taking into account the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The edition in which Sophia and Clarisse are participating ends on October 30. To further develop this idea and put it into practice, they are seeking support from public-sector organizations related to conservation and civil protection, companies monitoring forest and rural areas, and experts in wildfire management and machine learning.
This edition of the Santander X Explorer program, entirely online, brought together participants from over 200 universities in 10 countries across Europe and Latin America, recognizing innovative ideas with real market impact potential.