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The project Pavnext developed by Francisco Duarte, a MIT Portugal Program Transportation Systems student at Universidade de Coimbra was recognized with a 10.000€ prize at the Big Smart Cities 2017 contest. The prize awarding ceremony took place on July 11 at the Centro Cultural de Cascais.

The student competed with the PAVNEXT project (Pavement Energy Efficient Extractor), which presents a speed reduction system that induces the deceleration of vehicles without causing damage, noise or any discomfort to the passengers. The equipment acts as in a similar fashion to a carpet that when placed on the floor actively reduces the speed of the vehicles by extracting kinetic energy, with a minimal impact on the automobile. Contrary to existing systems, this one absorbs the vehicles’ energy and makes it slow down safely, without any action of the driver and even without being perceptible since it causes no discomfort. By acting directly on the vehicles, this solution can be effective in different places such as crossings, intersections, roundabouts, residential areas, schools and hospital areas, among others where it is crucial to control the speed limits. Drivers who move within the legal velocity limits will not be penalized, and the energy will just be withdrawn according to the necessity of each place.

By winning this national entrepreneurship competition, Francisco Duarte received a 10,000 euros prize, a work space and a 6-month acceleration period, a trip to Ericsson's innovation centre in Europe and access to the experimental city of Cascais to test the pilot of the technological solution he developed in the scope of his nearly finished doctoral thesis.

This is the third prize won by Pavnext since December 2016 when he was honored with the first prize at the Road Safety Innovation Award by  ACP. Since then he already won the Coimbra semifinal of the Big Smart Cities Competition and in June was selected to represent Portugal at the European Final of the ClimateLaunchpad competition in October

The laboratory tests already took place at the University of Coimbra and the project pilot will soon be implemented.

In the Media: Jornal Económico, Motor 24, Press Vodafone, Dinheiro Vivo, Aquelamaquina.pt, Notícias ao minuto.

Francisco Duarte at the Big Smart Cities Final

Ciência 2017 is a major Science Conference held annually to highlight achievement in science and technology in Portugal. This year's event was held between July 03-07 at Centro de Congressos de Lisboa and counted on the contribution of MIT Portugal Program speakers.

MIT Portugal Program was represented at the event with posters from some of our PhD students, presentations from our test bed projects and an overview on MIT Portugal impact in Sustainable Energy higher education in Portugal.

IAMAT Test-bed project was presented by Ana Póvoa at Ciência 2017. During a 10m talk, the researcher address the aims and objectives achieved so far of the project that is focused on the introduction of advanced materials technologies into new product development for the mobility industries, namely aeronautics.

Ana Póvoa - IAMAT Project Presentation

Carlos Silva, MIT Portugal faculty, intervention was entitled “Shaping the energy systems of tomorrow”, an overview of the past and current contributions of the MIT Portugal Program for the Sustainable Energy Systems research domain. After the session the researcher was interviewed for the event´s youtube page about his perspective for the next 20/30 years of the energy sector in Portugal and the work done by the MPP Program in this area.

Samuel Niza, MIT Portugal researcher presentation was focused on the work developed under the Suscity project - Urban Data Driven Models for Creative and Resourceful Urban Transitions – a MIT Portugal test bed projects which addresses the development and integration of new tools and services to increase urban resource efficiency with minimum environmental impacts, mainly in buildings. Samuel Niza was also interviewed by the Ciência 2017 team about the work done under this project and its results.

During the 3 days of Ciência 2017, it was also possible to find at the e-posters session the research work by  Andreia Santos, Miguel Neto, Raquel Figueiredo, Sara Freitas, Sónia Cunha under the theme "Engineer sciences and technology” representing also their host institutions at this event.

The event also counted with the participation of Diogo Pinto. As an high school student, Diogo developed a reseach study in Sustainable Energy Systems with the MIT Portugal and Pavilhão do Conhecimento - Centro Ciência Viva under the framework of the M2CE project - Promoting Engineering at High Schools. He was also present at Ciência 2017 to share his experience woriking with our reseachers. 

This year´s meeting celebrated the 50th anniversary of the creation of JNICT (Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica e Tecnológica) and the 20th anniversary of FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia), and highlighted once more the main challenges of the Portuguese scientific community by bringing together researchers and invited participants from all sectors of society.

Last June, MIT Portugal hosted a Delegation from Skoltech Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology at Braga, University of Minho, in a visit promoted by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and Ministério para a Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior.

The Russian delegation was composed by Alexander Safonov, Vice-President for Academic Development; Lawrence Stein, Vice-President for International Affairs and Development; and Eric Achtmann, Advisor to the President for Innovation. At the University of Minho, the delegation attended a  presentation of the 10 years of the MIT Portugal and the Program Governance Structure by Pedro Arezes, MIT Portugal National director. Afterwards, Professor Eugénio Ferreira, MIT Portugal faculty member, led the Skoltech Representatives on a brief tour to the Bioengineering Research facilities. The visitors were interested in the governance model and activities of  International Partnership, such as MIT Portugal, and the management model of Portuguese Universities and research institutes.

MIT Portugal  Program and Skoltech Representatives at University of Minho

Life Science Innovation for Portugal’s Traditional Economic Sectors: Agriculture | Aquaculture | Energy | Food | Forestry | Textiles

Entrepreneurial  success  and  cutting-edge  innovation  in  the  life  sciences  are  often   associated  with  health  and  medical  technologies.  However there  is  a  range  of  other   industries  where  new  biotechnologies  have  been  making  a  very  significant  impact.  To discuss challenges and opportunities related to those areas, MIT Portugal in collaboration with Mira Municipality and the University of Aveiro, organized an International Industry Roundtable on New Technologies for Old Industries that  gathered more than 70 people at the Mira Center, near Aveiro.

In countries  such  as  Portugal,  bio-innovation  and  entrepreneurship  in sectors  that  rely  on  existing natural resources – the  Sea,  the  Forest,  certain  crops – or on long-standing industrial traditions (textiles and chemicals) are particularly  relevant.  This International  Industry  Roundtable (IIR)  brought together key  players from  the Portuguese and European  research and innovation   ecosystem  for  a  multidisciplinary  discussion  on  the  promise  and  the  challenges  faced   by  entrepreneurs,  scientists  and  innovators  in  these  fields. 

The Session allowed participants to discuss common objectives, share new technologies and ideas, and promote networking and potential collaborations between participants.  The initiative counted on the participation of speakers from companies based in Portugal such as Oceano Fresco, RAIZ, CUF, Syngenta, P-BIO, Católica University, Minho and Aveiro University, BLC 3, Gabinete de Promoção do Programa Quadro de I&DT (GPPQ), A4F, MareLife, Devan Chemicals e SilicoLife.

The International Industry Roundtables (IIR) are an ongoing initiative of the MIT Portugal Program in collaboration with multiple academic and business entities and this is the second edition dedicated to Cities, Energy and Transportation. The IIR aim is to use the neutral grounds of academia to bring together entrepreneurs, company executives, policy makers, scientists, engineers and graduate students around topics where cutting-edge technology is put at the service of sustainable economic and social development. The focus is to bridge views and find common objectives between industry and academia, as well as within industry and within academia. 

Roundtable Program

MIT Portugal International Industry Roundtable on New Technologies for Old Industries