News: News

The Atlantic Spaceport, the space base for low-cost launches planned for Azores, has been green-lit and “should involve an investment of around 300 million euros”, says the President of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Paulo Ferrão.

The Atlantic Spaceport is one of the structures that will integrate the Azores International Research Center (AIR Center). The goal of this project is to develop an international cooperation platform, dedicated to integrated research in the areas of climate, earth observation, energy, space and oceans, involving Portugal, Brazil, Canada, USA, South Africa, Angola, Morocco and other European states.

The signature of the AIR Center founding agreement is slated for April 2017, in a summit to be held at Azores by the Science Ministries of Portugal and Brazil.

FCT has submitted a preliminary document to discussion by the national scientific community about the project. It defends “a new debate on a multilateral cooperation approach to science, for an integrated approach to space, climate change, earth and ocean sciences in the Atlantic, with emerging methods of processing scientific data. ”

This document was created with the contribution of scientists from Portuguese institutions, companies and universities (Azores, Porto, Minho, Algarve and Lisbon), as well as from the European Space Agency, NASA, the US Department of Energy and other American universities, such as MIT, the University of Texas and Carnegie Mellon University.

Read the Portuguese article at Expresso (PDF version) aicep Portugal Global Online (November 5, 2016)

Manuela Veloso and ‘Symbiotic Autonomy’: Humanity and AI will be Inseparable
Professor Manuela Veloso, head of the machine learning department at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), has been interviewed by Verge, as part of a special called “The Verge 2021: Five Years Into the Future with Top Ten Leaders”. This interview has been republished by the Portuguese tech periodical ComputerWorld.

In the interview, Manuela Veloso talks about her vision of a future in which humans and intelligent systems are inseparable, together in a continuous exchange of information and goals that she calls “symbiotic autonomy.” She is already testing this idea on the CMU campus, with roving, segway-shaped robots called “cobots”, that autonomously escort guests from building to building and ask for human help when they need. It’s a new way to think about artificial intelligence, and one that could have profound consequences in the next five years.

On the future coexistence of humans and AI, the professor shares her beliefs: “I am a complete optimist. I think that the research we’re doing on autonomous systems — autonomous cars, autonomous robots — it’s a call to humanity to be responsible. (…) It’s the human mind that conceived such technology, and it’s up to the human mind also to make good use of it.”

Read the Portuguese article at ComputerWorld Online (November 16, 2016)

CMU Portugal Program Celebrates 10 years!
The CMU Portugal Program is celebrating 10 years of the protocol signature that officialized the partnership between Carnegie Mellon University and the Portuguese government, through the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. To signal 10 years on the date of October 27 th , 2006, some of our community members took the time to send a message to the Program.

Join us in the coming months, in this website and in our social media channels, as we will be remembering our early days and celebrating our milestones and achievements!

CMU Portugal Program drove the creation of over 200 jobs
The CMU Portugal Program celebrates today a decade of existence. Launched in 2006, as a result of a collaboration between the Portuguese government and Carnegie Mellon University, the Program already has several tangible results in its curriculum.

The CMU Portugal Program has driven the creation of 11 companies, in a decade, which attracted more than EUR 61 million in venture capital investment, mainly foreign, and generated more than 200 skilled jobs.
With a mission to “place Portugal at the forefront of science and innovation” in ICT to serve as banner, the research platform created in the scope of this Program scored positive results, achieved in partnership with 15 Portuguese universities, 120 partner companies and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, which currently finances the project.

Read the coverage in Portuguese at VerPortugal Online, Sapo Tek Online, Portugal News Online (October 27, 2016) DN Notícias Online, NetMadeira, JM Madeira (PDF version), ComputerWorld (October 28, 2016) Diário de Aveiro (PDF version) (October 31, 2016)

RTP Notícias Online – television coverage of this news, first published on November 10, 2016 and was rebroadcasted on the following programs: Bom dia Portugal – RTP1, Bom dia Portugal – RTP3 on November 11, 2016.

RTP1 Highlights the 10 th Anniversary of CMU Portugal
RTP1 aired a news segment on the 10 th anniversary of CMU Portugal, highlighting also two of the 11 startups created in the scope of the Program, Veniam and Geolink. The piece features interviews with the CMU Portugal Program National Director, Prof. João Claro, former national director and Veniam CEO, João Barros and University of Porto faculty member and Geolink CEO, Michel Ferreira.

The news segmente aired as part of the network channel’s main news program, Jornal da Tarde, a primetime program.

Watch the Portuguese news segment at RTP Notícias Online (November 10, 2016)

Patient Innovation at Lisbon’s Web Summit 2016
The 2 nd Patient Innovation Awards will be a part of the Web Summit 2016, on its last day – November 10 th , in Lisbon. The ceremony will be presented by Manuel Heitor, Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education. Seven innovative projects will be distinguished after being evaluated by an international jury of experts in the fields of research, innovation, entrepreneurship and health.

The founders, Pedro Oliveira and Helena Canhão are two of the 31 Portuguese speakers of the Web Summit, both at the awards ceremony and at the Patient Innovation Forum, that takes place on Wednesday, November 9 th .

The Patient Innovation platform is an outcome of the “The Role of ‘User Innovators’ in the Development of Telecom Products and Services” project and it is currently developed by the “TEIPL: Technology, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy Lab” Entrepreneurial Research Initiative, offered by the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program and funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.

Read the Portuguese article at Dinheiro Vivo Online (November 4, 2016) Observador (November 4, 2016) StartUp Magazine Online (November 6, 2016)

One of the teams of the 2014 CMU Portugal inRes edition, AddVolt, successfully launched WeTruck in partnership with Luís Simões, a Portuguese logistics company.

WeTruck is a technology that produces, retrieves and stores electricity on board trucks and directs to the transport’s refrigeration system, as an alternative to diesel. This innovation combines solar and kinetic energy, helping to “reduce CO2 production, noise and vehicle maintenance needs”.

“Generally, we describe WeTruck [technology] as a sustainable electricity tank, because it replaces the current diesel tank, used on road transport of goods, in the truck or trailer,” Bruno Azevedo, one of the founders the AddVolt, told Lusa.

Read the articles in the Portuguese press Jornal de Negócios, Notícias ao Minuto, Pós-Venda (September 9, 2016) and in the specialized periodicals Europa Press, Make Me Feed (August 22, 2016) Ecotícias (August 23, 2016) Store Magazine (August 24, 2016) Góndola Digital (August 31, 2016). The Austrian newspaper Der Standard and the quarterly magazine Renováveis Magazine also published articles about AddVolt’s solution.

Xhockware is one of the startups born at UPTEC that will be at the event Porto Plans to Make the Best of Lisbon’s Web Summit
The Portuguese online periodical Observador draws up Porto’s plan to participate in Lisbon’s 2016 Web Summit. With a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and geographical proximity to the event, the city of Porto has a strategy called ScaleUp Porto, to make the most of the year’s biggest event at the capital.

ScaleUp Porto combines the Science and Technology Park of University of Porto (UPTEC), Porto Business School (PBS), Politécnico do Porto (P.Porto) and the Portuguese National Innovation Agency (ANI) to help the region’s startups to prosper in the international market.

Observador talked to Xhockware’s CEO and co-founder, and inRes alumnus, João Rodrigues. His company is one of the startups born at UPTEC that will be at this year’s Web Summit. The biggest challenge that the Portuguese entrepreneurs face is to win the investor’s trust: “The capacity exists, what it takes is that this capacity is perceived by foreign companies”, João Rodrigues said. “We are establishing contacts with potential investors. We want to maintain a close relationship and start anticipating the next investment round which we hope will be in a year, ” Xhockware’s CEO added.

Read the Portuguese article at Observador (November 4, 2016)

FEP and UIP calls are open and the Portuguese media is spreading the word Do you want to do research across the Atlantic?
The CMU Portugal Program has opened the calls for the training and exchange programs for students, researchers and faculty in the United States. Over the past two years, the CMU Portugal Program has supported more than 100 researchers and faculty who crossed the Atlantic to experience research and teaching methods, in the ICT area, in Carnegie Mellon University.

The Undergraduate Internship Program (UIP), launched in 2014, is aimed at master students and recent masters’ graduates, for a participation period from eight to 12 weeks. For Carolina Machado Loureiro, “the opportunity to closely observe and participate in the work done in one of the best universities in the area” is one of the positive aspects of having participated in this program for three months.

“This was one of the best experiences of my life and I recommend it to all students of this area. I miss it already, “says Tiago Fernandes, who also participated in UIP, between February and May this year. “Apart from CMU, the environment in Silicon Valley is something that I’ve never felt before. People there are very enterprising and creative. Most want to eventually create their own company, ” Tiago added.

The Faculty Exchange Program was able to support 67 researchers from Portuguese higher education institutions since the first edition. For the national director of the CMU Portugal Program, João Claro, “the balance that participants make is extremely positive.”

Canal Superior Online (October 24, 2016) Destak Online (October 25, 2016) Público – P3 Online, Mais Superior Online (October 26, 2016)