The CMU Portugal Academy officially launched its first edition with a bootcamp held on September 13th and 14th at the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI) facilities at Beato Innovation District. The event welcomed the 46 students enrolled in the three Academy’s Advanced Training Programs in digital technologies, who will experience cutting-edge education in: AI, Data Science & Machine Learning; Product Management; and User Experience & Service Design.
During the two-day bootcamp, participants took part in hands-on case studies and collaborative group exercises, interacting with experts from both academia and industry.
Paulo Marques, co-founder of the Portuguese unicorn company Feedzai and founding partner of TUMO Coimbra, introduced the Product Management Course and shared insights from his entrepreneurial journey. His pathway is closely tied to the CMU Portugal program, having been the first faculty member from Universidade de Coimbra to be appointed as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon and the first Director of the master’s in software engineering on the Portuguese side. He currently maintains his affiliation with the program as one of CMU Portugal’s Scientific Directors.
The Product Management Course will count on 17 candidates, and is co-led by Oren Zuckerman from the Reichman University and Diogo Rendeiro, Director of Incubation at Usercentrics, having Paulo Marques as faculty member.
The AI, Data Science, and Machine Learning program welcomed 19 enrolled students who will be led by João Magalhães, CMU Portugal faculty member and researcher at the Department of Informatics at FCT NOVA. Magalhães also led one of the program’s large-scale projects, Farfetch Chat R&D, among others.
The AI Course offers introductory knowledge and skills in data science, machine learning, and big data technologies. Participants will gain expertise in data acquisition, preprocessing, machine learning algorithms, and model deployment, applying these tools to address real-world challenges and guide data-driven business decisions.
The User Experience and Service Design will offer to the 10 enrolled students, a comprehensive training in user-centered design, teaching participants to conduct user research, create interactive prototypes, and develop usable interfaces that enhance user satisfaction and business outcomes.
The course will be co-led by Sandra Gama from Instituto Superior Técnico who also heads the HUMAN Lab from INESC ID, alongside Augusto Esteves, a member of the same research group and an assistant professor at Técnico.
At the Bootcamp, UX students were also welcomed by two additional CMU Portugal Academy faculty members: Sónia Rafael, Assistant Professor in the area of Communication Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon (FBAUL) and João Ferreira, Software Engineer at Nokia.
The two-day event provided an overview of the key topics to be explored at the new CMU Portugal’s advanced training center in digital technologies launched this year as a collaborative effort between the Interactive Technologies Institute, Instituto Superior Técnico, and the CMU Portugal program, powered by Fundação Santander Portugal.
The Courses will start in September 2024 and convene through May 2025, consisting of more than 200 contact hours held on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.
Applications for this year’s edition are now closed. More information available at the CMU Portugal Academy website.
