At the Wound Congress, students and researchers from the Instituto Politécnico da Guarda (IPG) showcased a "smart band-aid" that uses colour to protect, cure, and track wounds. The "Colorwound" band-aid, which was introduced at the scientific conference hosted by the Guarda Local Health Unit (ULS) Wound Prevention and Treatment Committee, makes it possible to determine if wounds are healing or are infected based on the colours it adopts.

"This is the largest scientific congress in the Guarda region, bringing together around 700 participants and involving all the district's institutions linked to health," said Joaquim Nércio, coordinator of the ULS da Guarda's Wound Prevention and Treatment Commission, adding that its main objective is to “improve knowledge and clinical practices aimed at people with wounds, to try to prevent and treat them in the best way possible, in order to improve their quality of life”.

The "Colorwound" project is coordinated by Sónia Miguel, a professor and researcher of Biomedical and Bioanalytical Sciences at IPG. She described the project as "a simple but very innovative and effective idea, which responds precisely to the difficulty of knowing the right time to replace patients’ band-aids".

Maximiano Ribeiro, the deputy director of the Escola Superior de Saúde da Guarda, stated that the IPG "has, for years, paid special attention to the health challenges posed by wounds and the search for the best solutions to treat them" in both research projects and health courses, making this smart band-aid something to be very proud about.