Structure and Schedule Important Dates Core Team Application and Selection Eligibility and Support ____________________________________________________________________________ Conditions Management Organization FAQ
inRes, short for “in Residence,” is a very early stage acceleration program for entrepreneurial teams working in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), in Portugal, offered by the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program.
The program is targeted to entrepreneurial teams that:
want to start a company and commercialize a technology ;
have proven technical feasibility of their product or service ;
have had enough initial interaction with their target markets and industries , to have minimally consistent product or service and business concepts;
and are not yet established companies regularly selling their products or services.
inRes will provide entrepreneurial teams a training period in Portugal, followed by a six-week structured immersion period in Pittsburgh, in the U.S., anchored at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The participating teams will benefit from the exposure to a highly dense environment of world-leading research groups , and market and industry specialists , in a variety of high-tech areas .
______ inRes will be very intense and challenging, and will require a strong commitment from the teams. It will push them past their comfort zones, and require them to work at a steep pace, cope with high levels of uncertainty, and constantly reach out for contacts to further build and validate their business projects. ______
2015 Edition of inRes CMU Portugal Program Presents inRes to Portuguese Entrepreneurs
The 2015 Edition of inRes is on the road, and the CMU Portugal Program went to Startup Lisboa, UPTEC in Porto, and IPN in Coimbra, to present the initiative. Fully dedicated to entrepreneurs in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the initiative has the support of Caixa Capital for this year’s edition. The investor has a full committment to helping entrepreneurs, and will provide to the most promising project a funding round of up to 150k, with the participation in the “Caixa Empreender Award.”
The launch of the 2015 Edition of inRes was held in Startup Lisboa, on April 9 th , 2015, with the presence of Vasco Pedro, CEO of Unbabel, and Vasco Moreira and Gonçalo Mendes, from the 2014 inRes team Followprice. João Vasconcelos, executive director of Startup Lisboa, was the host of this session. “It is a pleasure for Startup Lisboa to receive inRes for this session, and to see that Portuguese entrepreneurs are being offered these opportunities to be better prepared to address global markets,” said João Vasconcelos. “Startup Lisboa is growing fast and this is a sign that its concept is helpful for entrepreneurs, who benefit greatly from the experience of being part of the Startup Lisboa community.”
Lessons Learned of an Entrepreneur
Vasco Pedro’s keynote was rich in lessons learned from his experience in launching several projects, with different degree of difficulty. He had his first experience as an entrepreneur when he was a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). This project came to an end prematurely, but Vasco Pedro’s persistence and will to create innovative businesses set himon a path, which in looking back, taught him valuable lessons that helped him to be better prepared to launch and lead Unbabel. This very promising startup, created a platform that joins a machine translation engine and a crowd of human editors. Currently, Unbabel has more than 25 thousand editors, and more than 20 million words translated in 15 languages. The service provided by Unbabel is simple: the company takes each translation request, runs it through machine translation, and provides the output to human editors who polish it up as appropriate. Vasco Pedro explained that “this service provides the quality of a human translation at a much lower cost,” adding that “a number of studies show that post-editing machine-translated texts increases their quality when compared to translating from scratch.”
Vasco Pedro left several words of advice for entrepreneurs: “know your customer in order to develop your product (…); it is difficult to focus when we have a startup, so be prepared and learn how to overcome that challenge (…); the CMU brand may be an important asset to succeed in the U.S. (…) team building is crucial to have a resilient startup able to move forward when problems come.” Vasco Pedro had the privilege to experience YCombinator, a experience that he will never forget.
Vasco Moreira and Gonçalo Mendes, from Followprice, talked about their recent participation in the 2014 Edition of inRes. Through inRes, these two young entrepreneurs had the opportunity to receive training in customer development, and to contact with internationally renowned entrepreneurs and experts in their market and industry, which led them to introduce significant changes to their business model. Since the participation in the inRes initiative, Followprice has been developing fast, and in the beginning of 2015 the startup announced a round of funding led by Portugal Ventures.
AddVolt, Displr and Xhockware in the Porto Session
The presentation session at UPTEC in Porto took place on April 10 th , 2015. The audience saw three presentations by the other three teams that participated in the 2014 Edition of inRes: AddVolt, Displr and Xhockware. They shared “war stories” and insights from their experience, especially from the immersion at CMU, and Pittsburgh (U.S.).
2015 Edition of inRes: Roadshow
CMU Portugal Presents inRes to Portuguese Entrepreneurs
More information about the 2015 Edition of inRes is available here
Are you starting a new business in ICT ? Have you reached the stage where you have proven technical feasibility, had interaction with your target industry , but have not yet reached regular sales? If your answer to these questions is yes, we invite you to come and learn more about the 2015 Edition of inRes!
inRes is a very early stage acceleration program for Portuguese entrepreneurial teams working in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), in Portugal. Offered by the CMU Portugal Program, which is funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, inRes provides a training period in Portugal, followed by a two-month structured immersion period in Pittsburgh, in the U.S., anchored at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
In the scope of the 2014 Edition of inRes, four teams of entrepreneurs – AddVolt-WeTruck, Displr, Followprice and Xhockware-YouBeep – were immersed in a high density environment of world-leading industry specialists and research groups , in a variety of technology and application areas. (Success stories / Media)
________ inRes is a very intense and challenging program, and requires a strong commitment from the teams. It often pushes teams past their comfort zones, and requires them to work at a steep pace, cope with high levels of uncertainty, and constantly reach out for contacts to further build and validate their business projects.
________
The call for applications will be open from April 8 to May 8, 2015 .
To learn more about the 2015 Edition of inRes, join us next week at:
:: IPN (Building A, room 1), Coimbra – April 17, 2015 [09:30am – 11:00am] :: inRes 2015: Empowering Entrepreneurs for Internationalization
09:30am – 09:40am Welcome words
Paulo Santos, Executive Director, IPN Incubator
João Claro, National Director, CMU Portugal Program
09:40am – 10:10am Keynote by Mário Zenha-Rela, entrepreneur and professor at Universidade de Coimbra
10:10am – 10:30am Presentation of 2015 Edition of inRes by João Claro, National Director, CMU Portugal Program
10:30am – 10:50am Partnership with Caixa Capital by Walter Palma, Investment Director, Caixa Capital
10:50am – 11:00am Informal Q&A
:: Startup Lisboa, Lisbon (Prata street, 80) – April 9, 2015 [5:30pm – 7:00pm] :: inRes 2015: Empowering Entrepreneurs for Internationalization
5:30pm – 5:40pm Welcome words
João Vasconcelos, Startup Lisboa
João Claro, CMU Portugal Program
5:40pm – 6:10pm Keynote by Vasco Pedro, Unbabel
6:10pm – 6:30pm Presentation of 2015 Edition of inRes by João Claro
6:30pm – 6:50pm The inRes 2014 Experience with Followprice
6:50pm – 7:00pm Informal Q&A
:: UPTEC, Porto – April 10, 2015 [09:00am – 10:30am] :: inRes 2015: Empowering Entrepreneurs for Internationalization
09:00am – 09:10am Welcome words
tbd, UPTEC*
João Claro, CMU Portugal Program
09:10am – 09:30am Presentation of 2015 Edition of inRes by João Claro
09:30am – 10:20am The inRes 2014 Experience with AddVolt, Displr and Xhockware
10:20am – 10:30am Informal Q&A
The Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program, funded by the Portuguese Fundação para a CIência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and supported by Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Portuguesas (CRUP), leads the coordination of inRes, in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, UTEN Portugal, and INESC TEC.
The Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program has launched the new edition of inRes, a very early stage acceleration program for Portuguese entrepreneurial teams working in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
As part of the inRes Roadshow, a public session will be held at Instituto Pedro Nunes in Coimbra. There will be keynotes by the National Director João Claro, Paulo Santos of IPN and Mário Zenha-Rela, faculty of University of Coimbra and entrepreneur. This session will also include time for Q&A with the speakers.
CMU Portugal Program Establishes a Partnership with Caixa Capital Caixa Capital Will Award €50 Thousand Investment for the “Most-promising” 2015 inRes Team
The Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program has partnered with Caixa Capital in the scope of the 2015 Edition of inRes. This partnership agreement will give the opportunity to the “most-promising” startup of this edition to be awarded with 50 thousand euros, with the possibility of receiving additional 100 thousand euros as part of the “Caixa Empreender Award.”
On April 17th, Caixa Capital joined the information session at IPN, Coimbra.
inRes is a very early stage acceleration program for Portuguese entrepreneurial teams working in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) that will push them past their comfort zones , and require them to work at a steep pace , cope with high levels of uncertainty , and constantly reach out for contacts to further build and validate their business projects . The program includes a preparation and training stage in Portugal, followed by a two-months immersion in a highly competitive environment in Pittsburgh and at CMU. In Portugal, inRes has a unique format that responds to the specific needs of the teams, providing training to entrepreneurs, and creating and broadening an international network of contacts.
Launched in 2014 by the CMU Portugal Program, funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese funding agency), inRes is an intense and challenging program that will require a great deal of commitment from the teams, but at the same time an extremely rewarding experience that allows participants to validate and develop their projects in the future, as they get to contact with partners such as Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA), UTEN Portugal, and INESC TEC. The applications will be open until May 8th, 2015.
______
Caixa Capital is the Private Equity and Venture Capital arm of banking Group Caixa Geral de Depósitos and has a track record spanning over two decades of activity, since the industry was created in Portugal. It is a leading investor in terms of funds under management, portfolio size and diversity. Caixa Capital´s mission is to invest in funds and companies, led by highly qualified management teams, with high growth and valuation potential, that enable our funds to achieve an attractive risk adjusted return and for society at large to benefit sustainably from our activity.
Following an investment strategy to promote the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem associated with business acceleration programs, Caixa Capital has recently established a partnership with the Carnegie Mellon Portugal (CMU Portugal) Program to support the 2015 edition of inRes. This partnership agreement will award 50 thousand euros to a project from the 2015 edition, which may receive an additional 100 thousand euros as part of the “Caixa Empreender Award.”
This acceleration program is geared towards teams of entrepreneurs with a solid commercialization product or service in the area of Information and Telecommunication Technologies (ICT) in Portugal. The program includes a preparation and training stage in Portugal, followed by two months of immersion in a highly competitive environment in Pittsburgh and at CMU. In Portugal, inRes has a unique format that responds to the specific needs of the teams, providing training to entrepreneurs, and creating and broadening an international network of contacts.
Launched in 2014 by the CMU Portugal Program, funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese funding agency), inRes is an intense and challenging program that will require a great deal of commitment from the teams. However, this is an extremely rewarding experience that allows participants to validate and develop their projects in the future, as they get to contact with partners such as Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA), UTEN Portugal, and INESC TEC. The applications will be open until May 8 th , 2015.
Capital is the Private Equity and Venture Capital arm of banking Group Caixa Geral de Depósitos and has a track record spanning over two decades of activity, since the industry was created in Portugal. It is a leading investor in terms of funds under management, portfolio size and diversity. Caixa Capital´s mission is to invest in funds and companies, led by highly qualified management teams, with high growth and valuation potential, that enable our funds to achieve an attractive risk adjusted return and for society at large to benefit sustainably from our activity.
Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program – inRes – www.cmuportugal.org
inRes is a business acceleration program geared towards entrepreneurial teams with a solid commercialization product or service in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Portugal. The program includes a preparation and training stage in Portugal, followed by two months of immersion in a highly competitive environment in Pittsburgh and at CMU. This initiative was launched in 2014, and it is a natural step in the CMU Portugal Program, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), which has already launched 10 startups over eight years of partnership between Portuguese universities, research labs and companies, and CMU.
Displr
Go-to-Market Strategy Based in the U.S. Market
inRes teams are now on the final stretch of their immersion period in Pittsburgh, as part of the 2014 edition of inRes, and the road so far has been marked by workshops, seminars, meetings with relevant contacts, and even visits to iconic locations in the city.
[l-r] Rui José and Miguel Corais
Miguel Corais and Rui José, from Displr , describe the team’s last weeks, as well as their expectations and the main challenges they have been facing. “The main achievements this week was the meetings we scheduled. At this stage of our immersion, we need to have more insights of how to fit into the market value chains here in the U.S., and these meetings have been very helpful towards that goal,” they say.
CMU Portugal Program: How do you comment on the last two weeks?
Miguel Corais (MC) and Rui José (RJ): After three weeks of interesting workshops and seminars, we were more focused on scheduling meetings with U.S. startups and entrepreneurs to learn more about this market and its challenges. This is very useful because it will help us refine our own go-to-market strategy. One important hub for our networking has been Project Olympus and Kit Needham, who runs the show. Her network is impressive and she has been very helpful in introducing us to relevant contacts. We now have a busy agenda with several important meetings, and we’ve had some already.
CMU Portugal Program: What were your main challenges and achievements?
MC and RJ: The main challenge to achieve is to get the right people and set the meetings. This is the most difficult challenge we have at this moment. Also, coordinating our stay at CMU with the work that needs to be done in Portugal is another challenge. We have the distance problem and also the time zones, which makes it very hard to coordinate with the rest of our team back in Portugal. The main achievements this week was the meetings we scheduled. At this stage of our immersion, we need to have more insights of how to fit into the market value chains here in the U.S., and these meetings have been very helpful towards that goal.
CMU Portugal Program: We know that you have also been participating in some cultural and social events in Pittsburgh, namely visits to the Steelers stadium, the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Fallingwaters house. What do you have to say about these moments?
MC and RJ: This last week we had the opportunity to watch a Penguins game, the Ice Hockey team from Pittsburgh. It was an extraordinary experience. We were fascinated with the marketing and engagement techniques that surround the game itself to increase the engagement with the public. There were very big screens where we could see everything that was happening during the game, and every time there was even a small stop in the game, there would be something else to keep people engaged and to encourage the audience to be part of the show. And of course, the result was also very good with the Penguins’ victory against the LA Kings (current champion) by 3 – 0.
November 2014
____
Articles Related
inRes Program: An Outstanding Experience for Followprice
Xhockware – youbeep Team Stresses Promising Results Of the First Days of Immersion
Addvolt: A Winning Team Right From The Beginning in Pittsburg
2014 inRes: What are Our Portuguese Entrepreneurial Teams Doing in Pittsburgh?
inRes Teams Start Immersion Adventure in Pittsburgh
Carnegie Mellon Portugal Takes Four Entrepreneurial Teams To The U.S. To Accelerate Their Businesses
CMU Portugal Presents inRes To Entrepreneurs
_______
inRes, short for “in Residence,” is a very early stage acceleration program for entrepreneurial teams working in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), in Portugal, offered by the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program.
Portuguese Solution Available in Australian Online Store
After an intensive period of 31 days of immersion in Pittsburgh and CMU as part of the 2014 edition of inRes, one of the main goals established by the Followprice team has been achieved: their solution is now available in an Australian store, and soon will be in an American one. Vasco Moreira and Gonçalo Mendes are now in the stage of improving Followprice’s business plan.
[l-r] Vasco Moreira, Gonçalo Mendes and Bruno Azevedo (AddVolt) at the @Tech 50 Awards
CMU Portugal Program: How do you comment on the last two weeks?
Gonçalo Mendes and Vasco Moreira [GM and VM]: The last two weeks have been very intense. We managed to schedule meetings with renowned people in the e-commerce area, such as Marta DePaul or Mark Chrystal, who gave us a very interesting perspective of the e-commerce area, particularly in the U.S., and helped us to understand the necessary changes that need to be implemented to enter this market. We have achieved one of our first major objectives: the Followprice button is now available in a U.S. store and also in an Australian store! Now we are evaluating our metrics and making the necessary changes according to what we have learned at CMU so that we can improve our results. We had the opportunity to be at one big event, @Tech 50 Awards, where we presented our solution to a lot of companies and entrepreneurs. There were about 700 people at the event! We were also invited to be at C-Leveled Entrepreneurs event, which was an opportunity for us to contact with more entrepreneurs from Pittsburgh and share some ideas with them.
We know that you have also been participating in some cultural and social events in Pittsburgh, namely visits to the Steelers stadium, the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Fallingwater House. What can you tell us about these moments?
GM and VM: We decided to take advantage of the fact that we are in Pittsburgh to visit the Fallingwater House, or Kaufmann residence, built by Frank Lloyd Wright, and one of the world’s most famous houses because of its architecture. It was a great opportunity and a fantastic experience! We also went to Washington DC, where we visited the greatest monuments, and had a first-hand experience of the American culture.
October, 2014
______
Articles Related
inRes Program: An Outstanding Experience for Followprice
Xhockware – youbeep Team Stresses Promising Results Of the First Days of Immersion
Addvolt: A Winning Team Right From The Beginning in Pittsburg
2014 inRes: What are Our Portuguese Entrepreneurial Teams Doing in Pittsburgh?
inRes Teams Start Immersion Adventure in Pittsburgh
Carnegie Mellon Portugal Takes Four Entrepreneurial Teams To The U.S. To Accelerate Their Businesses
CMU Portugal Presents inRes To Entrepreneurs
_______
inRes, short for “in Residence,” is a very early stage acceleration program for entrepreneurial teams working in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), in Portugal, offered by the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program.
Xhockware – youbeep
Learning the Startup Culture and Challenges in the U.S. Market
“The first four weeks of engagement within the 2014 edition of inRes, through the CMU Portugal Program, have provided the right tools to put us on the same page as American entrepreneurs in crucial areas, such as investment, credibility, innovative culture, and English terminologies which are really important when talking about our businesses.” This is how João Paulo Rodrigues and David Sobrinho, from the Xhockware – youbeep team, describe the immersion period.
[l-r] João Paulo Rodrigues and David Sobrinho at the Carnegie Mellon University campus.
CMU Portugal Program: How would you comment on the last three weeks?
João Paulo Rodrigues and David Sobrinho [JPR and DS]: After three intensive weeks of workshops, events and meetings at CMU and around Pittsburgh, we began understanding more deeply the startup culture and the challenges of the U.S. market. Every Monday we have a workshop with a different person from the Pittsburgh area who shares his or her experience in startups, and highlights the main causes for their success and the biggest challenges they have faced. These lessons are important for us to understand how each person thinks and acts at each business phase, depending on the product, industry or role in the company. In particular we highlight the Monday workshop we had with Babs Carryer, an Angel investor. During this workshop we had the chance to learn more about the different types of investors in the U.S., and also to do our pitch, and get her feedback on our company.
CMU Portugal Program: What have been your main challenges and achievements so far?
JPR and DS: The two biggest challenges have to do with contacting people with decision power in our industry, and managing our time between the program, and the work we need to do in Portugal. In terms of achievements, we are happy with the valuable market information we are collecting, and the important feedback from people from different areas of expertise, regarding our overall strategy.
CMU Portugal Program: We know that you have also been participating in some cultural and social events in Pittsburgh, including visits to the Steelers stadium, the Andy Warhol Museum and the Fallingwaters. What do you have to say about these moments?
JPR and DS: We believe that when attending a program like inRes, offered by the CMU Portugal Program, it is important to balance the work during the week and pleasure during the weekend. This makes even more sense when we have the chance to stay long enough in an area where it is possible to visit cultural places that are known worldwide like the Andy Warhol Museum and the Fallingwaters. The Andy Warhol Museum allowed us to get to know the history of the most famous pop art artist and see some unique pieces. During the trip to the Fallingwaters we got to know the rural areas and the beautiful nature surrounding the city. We were really impressed with the beauty of the region and the architecture of the houses, so we recommend it to anyone visiting the city.
CMU Portugal Program: Have you been invited to participate in other events, different from the ones that were scheduled at the beginning of the immersion period?
JPR and DS: We were invited to the Tech 50 Awards, an amazing event attended by over 700 people from the Pennsylvania area working in technology. There, we had the opportunity to talk with interesting people and schedule some meetings. We were also present in a networking event organized by a consultancy firm, where we contacted with a lot of well-connected people and entrepreneurs in the region.
October, 2014
______
Articles Related
Xhockware – youbeep Team Stresses Promising Results Of the First Days of Immersion
Addvolt: A Winning Team Right From The Beginning in Pittsburg
2014 inRes: What are Our Portuguese Entrepreneurial Teams Doing in Pittsburgh?
inRes Teams Start Immersion Adventure in Pittsburgh
Carnegie Mellon Portugal Takes Four Entrepreneurial Teams To The U.S. To Accelerate Their Businesses
CMU Portugal Presents inRes To Entrepreneurs
_______
inRes, short for “in Residence,” is a very early stage acceleration program for entrepreneurial teams working in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), in Portugal, offered by the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. By using our website you agree to our Privacy Policy.
