From September 21-24, MIT leaders in Cambridge hosted a productive series of meetings and site visits with several Portugese companies and visitors from industry, academia and government.  It is hoped that these events—which highlighted the ways in which MIT cultivates relationships between academia and industry—will help to encourage industry involvement in the MIT Portugal Program.

Participants from Portugal included Manuel Heitor, Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education; Vasco Varela, Executive Director, International Partnerships (FCT); Antonio Cunha, Dean, School of Engineering, University of Minho; and Professor Paulo Ferrao, Director of MIT Portugal in Lisbon.  Also participating were representatives from UTEN (University Technology Enterprise Network)—a network of technology transfer offices in the main schools of engineering within Portugal—and senior executives from several Portuguese companies affiliated with the MIT Portugal Program.

Daniel Roos, Director of MIT Portugal in Cambridge, hosted the event, together with MIT Chancellor Phillip Clay and MIT Dean of Engineering Subra Suresh. 

The visit featured discussions about ongoing and future research projects through MIT Portugal’s Industrial Affiliates Program, as well as the ways in which EDAM, the Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing area, interacts with its industrial affiliates.  A main objective of the visit was also to provide a better understanding of the industry-academia relationship as it occurs at MIT, and particularly of MIT’s “innovation ecosystem.”

Also on the agenda were visits to two local companies, Advanced Polymers Inc. and Accutronics Inc., and a talk by MIT Institute Professor Robert Langer, winner of the 2008 Millennium Technology Prize and head of an MIT laboratory involved in groundbreaking research at the intersection of biotechnology and materials science.

Visitors also heard presentations from MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, (which connects MIT innovators to the business community), Industrial Liaison Program (which forges partnerships between MIT and business), and Technology Licensing Office (which promotes economic development via the licensing of MIT-developed technologies).  In addition, they were able to participate in the annual operating committee meeting of a model program for industrial and academic engagement at MIT: the Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) Program, within MIT’s Engineering Systems Division.