News: In the Media

With sales falling down, extravagance dominates the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung at Frankfurt

Article about the event IAA. Hybrids dominate at the show which this year seems indifferent to the crisis in the sector. (…) The Nissan announced that the brand’s engineers have been conducting intensive research on this technology for many years, in partnership with teams of world’s best universities, including MIT, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Tokyo.

Read the full article at Dinheiro Vivo (September 7, 2013).

PT launches app that makes it possible to costumize taxi services
Portugal Telecom will launch a new solution that makes it possible to customize the user’s experience in the taxi. Through this app it will be possible to book a taxi with services tailored to each client. The mobile application is free and is available on Android and iOS app stores. This new feature is launched in partnership with Geolink, a startup which already develops and sells electronic systems of taxis dispatch. This new service comes as part of a partnership between PT and Geolink, which will be presenting more news over the coming months.

Read the full article at Exame Informática (August 12, 2013), Luso Notícias (August 12, 2013), Local.PT (August 12,2013), PC Guia (August 12, 2013), Meios & Publicidade (August 12, 2013), Transportes em Revista (August 12, 2013) and Fibra (August 12, 2013).

Interview with CMU Portugal National Director at Portuguese Television RTP Informação
The second phase of the “Carnegie Mellon Portugal” program has now started. This is a higher education international partnership that focuses on the areas of information technologies and communication. The program has recently been extended for five more years and has 20 million Euros to invest until 2017. Statements from João Claro, National Director of Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program.

RTP Informação (Portuguese cable TV), September 2013

“The Incentives Given To Renewable Energies Are Clearly Higher Than Required” – Interview with Inês Azevedo

At the age of 33, Inês Azevedo is leading a research group at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), in Pittsburgh, which is devoted to the analysis of decision-making processes in the fields of energy and climate change. Returning to Portugal is not part of her immediate plans, but she leaves a piece of advice to the country: we are paying a high price for the reform of our energy network and that issue can be tackled by doing more research before making decisions.

Read the full article in Portuguese at Jornal i online and pdf (July 18, 2013).

Machine Learning Specialists Meet at IST
The Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) will be the host of the third edition of Lisbon Machine Learning School (LxMLS), which will be attended by researchers from all over the world, between the 24 th and the 31 st of July. This initiative will be held with the support of Carnegie Mellon (CMU) Portugal. This year’s encounter will be devoted to the theme “Learning with Big Data” and will have the contribution of CMU researchers Noah Smith and Chris Dyer.

Read the full article in Portuguese at FIBRA (July 18, 2013), Lusa (July 23, 2013), Diário Digital (July 24, 2013), Costa da Caparica.pt (July 24) and Vox Notícias Online (July 24, 2013).

Xpand IT certified by CMMI

Xpand IT obtained the international certification by CMMI, “rewarding their distinctive approach based on agile methodologies,” the company says in a press release. The “certification is referenced as one of the most demanding in the world and aims to ensure the highest quality in software development and respective near-shore and off-shore performance .
Read the full article in Portuguese at ComputerWorld (July 29, 2013).

The director of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program stated that this initiative is strengthening the link between research and technology commercialization, and has already helped to create nine new businesses in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

João Claro, the national director of the CMU Portugal Program, told Lusa (the news agency) that “the number of startups /’spinoffs’ [new business] created in relation to the activity of the partnership is now nine, all of them in the area of ICT,” with only one of them currently not being developed in Portugal.

The CMU Portugal Program organized a seminar in Lisbon for researchers that are now “ready to go into commercialization of their research” and also for those who are preparing to start new research projects. One of the guest speakers at the seminar is Reed McManigle, Senior Manager, Business Development and Licensing, in Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation (CTTEC).

Read the full article at RTP Notícias Online (June 20, 2013), Dinheiro Digital (June 20, 2013), and OJE (June 21, 2013).

«Entrepreneurship is to be put in practice, not taught» – Gonçalo Amorim in Interview
Gonçalo Amorim, Head of the Building Global Innovators project, explains why one of the greatest assets of a good entrepreneur is the ability to put in practice specific projects and ideas. In reply to a question about the fact that the entrepreneurship culture is a recent phenomenon in Portugal, Gonçalo Amorim stressed the importance of establishing partnerships with international institutions, such as the CMU and the MIT.

Read the full article at Semana Informática (July 10, 2013).

Madeira-ITI Researchers receive Best Paper Award at EICS’2013
Rui Alves and Pedro Valente, doctoral students at Madeira Interactive Technologies Instititute (M-ITI), have received the Best Article Award at the EICS’2013, which is one of the main scientific conferences in the field of human/computer interaction. The article was written in cooperation with CGI/Logica Service Design Lab, a research initiative developed under the Madeira-ITI – Carnegie Mellon Portugal partnership.

Read the full article at LOCAL.PT (July 10, 2013).