AREAS OF ACTUATION
Research and development, technology and knowledge transfer, innovation and creativity, entrepreneurship, incubation, spin-offs, startups – these are all part of Research, Technology & Innovation, a holistic chain of interrelated activities. PORTIC includes units and groups with activities in different stages of the knowledge and innovation chain, in several areas of knowledge.
Industry 4.0
We are in a new stage, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in which technological advances enable significant changes in industry. However, there are significant challenges regarding the skills needed, such as critical thinking and creativity to promote problem-solving, to work in Industry 4.0, be it digital transformation, new processes or new business models. Dealing with these challenges requires integrated actions from training to innovation services, which are able to support the required fast transformation of technology, processes and human resources.
Cybersecurity
In order to fully realize the benefits that the emerging digital society is expected to bring, we are required to understand and address the risks which are at stake – the same technologies which promise to facilitate operations also bring significant challenges. Mitigating risks whilst promoting the benefits, requires reliable and secure digital systems, a challenge that can only be tackled with a strong ecosystem of research, development and innovation.
Health Technologies
The increasing importance of health and well-being, the support to independent and active life, requires the development of innovative technologies, tools and digital solutions to diagnose, treat, or prevent health problems, leading to more effective and efficient healthcare, improving quality and efficiency of interventions. Solutions need multidisciplinary approaches, which are able to deliver and implement suitable, trustable, safe, and cost-effective healthcare, with the needs of people at a center stage.
Biotechnology
With the current situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Industrial and Medical Biotechnology Laboratory of PORTIC mobilized to provide testing for SARS-CoV-2, as well as to study and develop methodologies and devices for SARS-CoV-2, in many different environments.
Digital Innovation
The continuous evolution of digital systems is transforming irrevocably the way organizations operate and interoperate, a transformation which is expected only to accelerate. Digital transformation challenges the operation of companies (in particular SMEs), with higher difficulties in traditional sectors, creative industries or tourism. In this context, it is necessary to develop and consolidate innovative processes and services, promoting the digitalization and the development of digital platforms and circular economy models.
Creativity and Innovation
Porto Design Factory is a laboratory of ideas based on interdisciplinary work, applied research and industrial collaboration, where students from different areas cooperate in the development of projects submitted by companies, with the ambition of promoting an entrepreneurial mindset. Porto Design Factory offers several educational programs with educational objectives and methodologies aimed at students, graduates and professionals, interested in creative and innovative skills.
Entrepreneurship and Incubation
Through Startup Porto we promote and develop a new generation of business through entrepreneurship programs and support for startups. The objective is to facilitate the process between imagining a product and taking it to the market, through programs such as pre-acceleration, acceleration and events to connect entrepreneurs and investors, at different stages of development.
Innovation Services
Through Porto Business Innovation we link academia, business and society. Based on knowledge and innovation, Porto Business Innovation promotes new business opportunities and supports the development of new products and services, benefiting from the different areas of activity of PORTIC to promote consultancy services to companies.