Kick-off of inRes third edition – Entrepreneurship in Residence Empowering Portuguese Entrepreneurs – inRes 2016 Has Already Started!
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One more edition of inRes, the business acceleration initiative of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program (CMU Portugal), funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, has already started!
The preparation phase, which features five teams – All in Surf, Helppier, James, Smart Insole and Wireless Link – is focused on empowering the participants and on fine-tuning the product/services concepts. The main goal is the development of a plan for the immersion of seven weeks in the U.S. The kick-off workshop took place on June 30, at INESC TEC, Porto. |
The Addvolt founders (one of the inRes 2014 teams) were present in the second day of the workshop. Their presence, advice and stories were valuable and crucial for the 2016 teams.
This year, Robb Myer, resident entrepreneur of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and founder and ex-president of the successful start-up NoWait, is part of the inRes team of mentors. Robb Myer has been mentoring dozens of teams and has now a long business experience in the technological field.
inRes started, in Portugal, with five workshops and with the participation of the mentors. This will be followed by an immersion in the Pittsburgh campus and in the Silicon Valley CMU campus. After the pilot immersion in Silicon Valley in the past edition, the program will consolidate its presence in one of the biggest ecosystems of cutting-edge technology industry, where some of the biggest companies and investors are settled.
“We give teams the opportunity of having excellent training, such as the intensive workshops. With these they can start working on a broader network of contacts, in particular through the access to experts and mentors,” stresses João Claro, the National Director of CMU Portugal and inRes coordinator.
The director highlights the quality of the teams. “The teams of this edition have innovative and very promising projects, which aim to explore strategic sectors in the ICT area. In addition, the projects are in a development stage which will give them the opportunity of benefitting of one of the main areas of inRes – refine and validate their product concepts and business models, through the contact with experts, potential users, clients or partners.”
The selected teams for the first stage of the third inRes edition and their products are:
- All in Surf – Technology applied to aquatic sports activities. It maximizes the efficiency of the metrics and it helps the athletes to improve the activity, through training sessions, materials or equipment.
- Helppier – Online software service that allows the creation of interactive help for a website or web application, in a short period of time.
- James – Software solution for risk managers, which enables the use of advanced algorithms that avoid bad debts.
- Smart Insole – Flexible insole, which is equipped with sensors that allow the adaptation of the product to any type of footwear and according to the users’ needs.
- Wireless Link – System that improves the speed and quality of video transmission in live drones.
The selected teams are from different parts of the country (Portugal) – Lisbon, Leiria, Aveiro, Coimbra and Porto. Some of them have strong connections with universities and research centers, for example Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Instituto de Sistemas e Robótica, Universidade de Coimbra and Universidade do Porto.
For the selected teams, inRes will be a relevant springboard since it will open doors to future contacts, and it will allow the teams to be selected for a second phase when they will be able to immerse in the U.S. ecosystem. This program also allows the entrepreneurs to get and consolidate management skills that are essential regarding the early stage of the projects.
As the coordinator of inRes, João Claro highlights the unique and innovative format of the program: “We have been able to boost these teams, contributing for the success of new products and services in an international market and increasing their feasibility, sustainability and competitiveness.”
The workshops in Portugal will take place until September 9 and the immersion in Pittsburgh will start on September 15. As the immersion has the duration of seven weeks, the teams will finally be back in November. In the U.S., the participants will be able to attend seminars, workshops, hands-on sessions, conferences and internationally recognised events.
July 2016
