Test KOR is awarded at UC 2021 Intellectual Property and Transfer Day

May 2021 - In recognition of the development of science, technology and innovation, in the category Covid-19 Technology, Test KOR was awarded by the UC Transfer and Development Directorate in a virtual ceremony headed by the Rector of the Catholic University, Ignacio Sanchez and the Vice Rector for Research, Pedro Bouchon. The event, held this Thursday, May 6, was part of the UC 2021 Transfer and Intellectual Property Day.

KOR Test (Rapid Olfactory Kit) is a solution that allows to identify the presence of COVID-19 in asymptomatic patients, through the selection of three carefully selected scents to evaluate the olfactory capacity of patients. In addition to the contribution it has made during the pandemic, the application of this technology stands out for being economical, innocuous, easy to implement, reproducible and scalable.

The award was presented to Professor Eduardo Agosín, as leader of the project, and to the multidisciplinary team that has worked to develop this technology and has already managed to apply more than 250 thousand tests. This team includes the Dictuc Aromas Center, professors from the UC School of Engineering, UC Design and the Foundational Research on Data Institute.

Marcelo Arenas, director of the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data, highlights the role of the IMFD's Innovation and Technology Transfer Department in the development of the KOR web platform, which accompanies the application of the test by recording people's answers and processing the results immediately . "These types of systems that require interaction with users, handling sensitive information and being available all the time, can take a significant amount of time to develop. But our team managed to meet this challenge in very short time frames and with excellent results."

Martín Ugarte, CEO of the Department of Innovation and Technology Transfer, points out that "we were able to give the KoR test project a downstream phase that allowed us to systematize the processes, to finally provide the possibility of making a product for mass use, which is proven by the 250,000 tests carried out to date. Our platform handles data with international security and encryption standards, and has been available 100% of the time".