CMU Portugal will be expanding its Lisbon offices to the “Hub Criativo do Beato” (HCB). In September, the Program will be part of the project launched by Câmara Municipal de Lisboa (CML) to build a new “Unicorn Factory” in Lisbon, creating an innovation center of excellence for creative and technological companies.
HCB will be a space for open innovation in the heart of the Beato neighborhood, where work, leisure, and cultural areas will unveil a new urban dynamic in a daily living space shared by the Hub residents, from entrepreneurs to freelancers, startups, and companies, with the surrounding community, an ambition shared with CMU Portugal. In the past 15 years, CMU Portugal has contributed to interdisciplinary and interinstitutional collaborative projects. It has supported the creation of startups nowadays reference in their sectors, such as Veniam, Unbabel, and the fintech unicorn Feedzai and Mambu.
CMU Portugal will not be the only one moving to HCB in September. Under a new partnership between the two institutions, Instituto Superior Técnico will join the Hub as an academic partner. As a result, the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI – Instituto de Tecnologias Interactivas), founded in 2009 through the CMU Portugal partnership and member of the Tecnico’s research unit LARSyS, will also relocate to the HCB.
Nuno Nunes, CMU Portugal National Co-Director, and ITI President, see this as “a great opportunity to be part of a new and ambitious innovation center launched by CML to foster research and entrepreneurship involving some of the best academic and industrial Institutions in Lisbon.”
This center will combine technology and creativity, which is exactly the focus of the area of HCI of CMU Portugal and the newly affiliated Ph.D. program in Digital Media which involves the University of Porto, Nova University of Lisbon and more recently University of Lisbon, so we are excited to see what the future will bring. – Nuno Nunes
To Inês Lynce, CMU Portugal National Co-Director, and INESC ID President, “it is gratifying to see the investment that the City is making in Lisbon, supporting and promoting these innovation initiatives. This industrial area in Lisbon, formerly from the Portuguese Army, will soon gain a new life by hosting over 3 thousand people worldwide who want to produce innovation. ”
This new Hub that will count with CMU Portugal and Instituto Superior Técnico is surely a way to strengthen our capital’s position as an innovation and research ecosystem. I’m extremely proud to be part of it. – Inês Lynce
Regarding the Program’s role in this initiative, José M.F. Moura, CMU Portugal Director at CMU, explains that “the CMU Portugal Program is highly focused on promoting research initiatives between companies and academic institutions in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University. This new Hub will surely be a new platform to showcase what is being done under the Program and possibly establish the ground for new collaborations.”
We look forward to renewing the Program and continue our collaboration beyond 2023. Who knows what new opportunities this might bring.
– José M.F. Moura
According to the Lisbon Mayor, Carlos Moedas, “This project was only possible thanks to a strong collaboration between the academic sector, CML, companies, and entrepreneurs, both nationally and internationally. ”
This spirit of cooperation and diversity produces the best projects and innovation, and that is what I want for Hub Criativo do Beato. The new IST center and the international partnership with Carnegie Mellon is an important first step toward that goal. – Carlos Moedas
On the relevance of the CMU Portugal partnership, which connects Técnico and Carnegie Mellon University, Carlos Moedas says it “brings great prestige to Lisbon. These are two institutions of excellence that come together to develop unique technology in the world. It’s yet another evidence that Lisbon is becoming Europe’s innovation capital.”
