CMU Portugal Organizes Event Targeted to Companies
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“CMU Portugal Program: Enabling Innovation in Companies” was the theme of a session with companies that the CMU Portugal Program organized on November 6, 2014, at Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics (CLSBE), in Lisbon. The event welcomed 15 participants from different organizations, namely CGI, HiTag, Patient Innovation, OutSystems, Thales Group and PT Blue Start. |
The main goal of this event was to leverage and strengthen the participation of companies in the different initiatives offered by the CMU Portugal Program, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). Since 2006, the year the Program was founded, over 90 companies have been benefiting from the international ecosystem of education, research and innovation in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provided by the Program.
For that, the Program brings together faculty members, researchers, dual degree doctoral and master students, business executives, startup managers, and senior staff of innovation and entrepreneurship support organizations, from both sides of the Atlantic, in Portugal and the United States. One of the highlights of this event was the presentation of opportunities for companies within the 2 nd call for Entrepreneurial Research Initiatives (ERIs), which will remain open until December 16, 2014.
| The event started with welcome words from Francisco Veloso, the Dean of Católica Lisbon, who stated that CLSBE is currently involved in one ERI, and that he has been involved in the Program since its inception. João Claro, national director of the CMU Portugal, took the stage to present the Program and to encourage the participants to see it as an opportunity to solve problems and create capabilities. |  |
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The event also featured António Melo, R&D Manager at Outsystems, a company located in Lisbon that delivers enterprise mobile and web applications. António Melo stressed that the contact with the CMU Portugal Program and with the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL) has been important for the company in some key areas. According to the R&D Manager of the company, which provides a platform that makes it possible to develop software on the cloud, the experience with the Program and UNL has been very positive. |
| Other participating companies included GFI (an IT multinational), HiTag (a biotech company), Patient Innovation (a platform for patients and caregivers), the Thales Group (a French multinational with a branch in Portugal for about seven years), and finally PT Blue Start (which provides help to startup companies). |  |
After the session, the national director of the CMU Portugal Program was available to meet with companies individually, to clarify and better explain the opportunities and possible outcomes of companies participating in the Program’s initiatives.
November 2014
