25 years of history, 25 years of victories
Revisiting history in the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of INESC in Porto
In May 2010, INESC celebrated the 25th anniversary of its presence in the city of Porto. These were 25 years of history, of struggle, of success to which BIP now dedicates an article in this Highlight section. BIP interviewed some of the members who participated in the constitution of INESC in Porto, responsible for the revolution that brought science and excellent to the city of Porto: José Tribolet, founder and current president of INESC, José Salcedo, the first Director of INESC in Porto, Manuel Barros, who was in charge, at the time, of the electronics area of the Optoelectronics Group, and Alírio Rodrigues, at the time President of the Governing Board of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). They explain us the stories behind the story and tell us about the “conspiracy meetings” that led to the constitution of one of the most important R&D institutions in the country.
The stories behind the story
It all started in a summer of 1979 when José Tribolet visited José Salcedo, who was at the time doing post doctoral work. After long hours of conversation, José Tribolet makes a surprising challenge to José Salcedo: return to Porto and help him establish INESC in Porto. This invitation was, according to José Tribolet, a result of “the awareness of a considerable number of young PhD holders workingabroad, in the 1970s, with relevant knowledge for the national telecommunications area, an area that was about to undergo major transformations from the analogical to digital, with support on electronic and optical infrastructures and on the intensive use of computers”, he explains.
Because he had already been living in California for the last six years and had a permanent offer to work in the then called “Bell Labs”, José Salcedo confesses that, at the time, the project seemed “too bold to be credible”, but still he “thought about it”. Thus, in 1981, he decides to come back to Porto and this was when the adventure started: the “planning meetings started, involving the Physics colleagues Manuel de Barros and António Pereira Leite. We were starting off with the Group of Optoelectronics [Faculty of Science of the University of Porto – FCUP], we had exceptional students – such as José Luís Santos and others – and the science and technology that we were developing seemed to make sense for a future INESC in Porto”, he adds.
And it was in Physics that it all began “with the first projects being financed by INESC Lisboa and by telecommunications operators, one of which was the first contract that a telecommunications operator signed with a university”, José Salcedo reveals, and, in 1983, “we already had a dimension that called for something more”, he adds. Together with the colleagues from FEUP, Joaquim Borges Gouveia and Artur Pimenta Alves, meetings were held with the then Secretary of State for Communications, Raul Junqueiro, for the development of a large project that that would justify and polarize the establishment of INESC in Porto. And thus the project SIFO (Optical Fibre Integrated Systems) was born. “With this project, our optics laboratory was no longer enough. We needed a more formal structure”, Manuel Barros explains. After that, there was a meeting with Alírio Rodrigues, at the time President of the of FEUP’s Governing Board, and Oliveira Ramos, former Dean of the University of Porto, where the intention was to convince the University to support the establishment of INESC in Porto, something that, according to Alírio Rodrigues, “was not a problem for FEUP, but could be for the Presidency of the University, though not for the Dean”. But with some convincing arguments, the support was granted and thus the establishment of INESC in Porto went forth, already with the University of Porto on board.
The conspiracy meetings
In order to go forth with an ambitious project such as SIFO, the “conspirators” held meetings, either in Porto, at José Salcedo’s or Borges Gouveia’s houses, or in Lisbon, at José Tribolet’s or Lourenço Fernandes’ (both from Instituto Superior Técnico – IST), a member that has already passed away. These were the so-called “conspiracy meetings” where it was possible to discuss and plan subjects, such as how to get 1.5 million Euro to start the entire process, “something that the telecommunications operators never forgave us for literally forcing them to do it politically”, José Salcedo reveals. According to Manuel Barros, one of the things he had learned while studying in England was “how to get money for projects ". Even still, Pinto de Basto, at the time Director of CET [Centre for Telecommunications Studies] in Aveiro, to whom the project was presented, "was very sceptical towards optical fibres and initially they didn’t want to go through with it, but after a while, they were the one who came to us”.
At the same time, in those meetings, the members also discussed what they had to do in order to inherit the optical fibre equipment of the Institute of Communications (IDC), considering that the institute would be extinct sooner or later; how to convince the directors of the University of the group’s good intentions, or how to promote a team spirit in the group. The entire process of meetings became known as “Inesking”. So much so “that our colleagues would ask us, ‘are you Inesking today?’ every time we had a meeting”, Manuel Barros reveals, laughing.
And thus INESC in Porto was born, José Tribolet states, “out of the combination of different people, working together, of the alignment of interests, both personal and professional, of the combination of objectives and visions, namely of the active role that the university, research and innovation play in the development of the country, its people and regions, something that was the result of the collective will, and out of the dynamics and «active conspiracy» that led to the development of R&D groups at INESC in Porto, in FCUP, in FEUP and, afterwards to the creation of the delegation of INESC Norte, which became INESC Porto as an autonomous institution years later”.
INESC Norte and the path to excellence
According to José Tribolet, the training purposes that INESC Norte had were dual. On one hand, they were global, identical to the ones in Lisbon – to provide a useful, flexible platform that is aware of the University’s modernization forces in serving the country’s development with autonomy, that is, assuming the full responsibility for its performance and funding in the market, including the public, evidently, in a spirit that is different from the civil service’s and from the spirit lived in the State Laboratories and the Public University”, he explains. On the other hand, these goals were also “regional, which means that they were contextualized in their own habitat, in the economy, in the companies and in the contexts of the Northern region”, he adds.
Moreover, as stated by José Tribolet, INESC Norte has always assumed a “role of commitment towards the region’s development, in a non-provincial way, because it has always been open not only to the world economy, but also to the global scientific and technological realities”. However, “it has always focused on the reality of SMEs [Small and Medium Enterprises], namely industrial, so predominant in the Northern region”, he adds. The establishment of INESC in the city of Porto was, therefore, the result of the “maturing role, at national and regional levels, that the INESC system, as a tool of the university, could and should play in the country’s development”. This process “continued with the establishment of INESC in Coimbra, Aveiro, Braga and in Macau”, José Tribolet adds. Furthermore, INESC Porto has always been capable of renewing and expanding itself and, according to Alírio Rodrigues, “to my knowledge, INESC Porto is currently going through an active internationalization phase and is an institution that is dynamic in its search for funding”.
INESC Norte, which became known as INESC Porto in 1998, managed to become, over the years, the “holder of incredibly valuable Knowledge and Human Capital resources in the industrial area, unique in the entire Portuguese university”, José Tribolet highlights. In that particular case, “we must also highlight the important role that José Manuel Mendonça played, having returned home after a fruitful sabbatical, after which he became the President of INESC Porto, following Pedro Guedes de Oliveira, and thus modernizing the lifecycle of leaderships, so essential for the vitality of the institutions ", he adds.
And here’s to the next 25 years!
In the year of the celebration of the 25th Anniversary in the city of Porto, José Tribolet, José Salcedo, Manuel Barros and Alírio Rodrigues wanted to leave a congratulatory and encouragement message to the collaborators of INESC Porto. It’s time to celebrate! Here’s to the next 25 years!
José Tribolet: “Firstly: Thank you all. Always guide your professional and personal performance with Values. Your work – in the improvement of people, knowledge, products and services – is relevant, not only for the final results, but also for the processes that are followed to reach those results. You should work honestly, rigorously, with responsibility, generosity and passion. You should be an example to others and always pay attention, especially to the younger generations! You should invest in the creation of people that are better than us. You should be brave and resilient in the prosecution of your goals. The construction of a better Portugal implies much more than economy – it relies on the genetic improvement of each one of us. And our society’s. The most experienced and mature should be willing to Serve in places of higher responsibility at INESC Porto! Because we are always feel tempted to stay warm and comfortable in our little corner. And believe: the Future is never the linear extension of the Past”.
José Salcedo: “I would like to leave three messages: only do what you really like, because only then you can be resilient enough to face the obstacles that appear throughout your lives, until you’re really good and you feel good about yourselves; reinvent yourself completely every five years; and the future doesn’t simply happen, it’s built. Congratulations and a hug to you all”.
Manuel Barros: “The Evolution of INESC Porto hasn’t embarrassed its “father”, quite the contrary. Keep going, boys and girls! Worry about doing well everything you’re doing, and the rest will come. Do things that are worth it. And everything you have to do, do it well. After all, whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well”.
Alírio Rodrigues: “I hope that over the next 25 years the Science produced at INESC Porto is visible in the most relevant scientific journals and that the Technology developed at the institution leads to the establishment of sustainable companies. This is the best contribution that INESC Porto can give the Country in this difficult period of the aftermath of obscure past decisions where the future impact on the accounts has not been quantified (or shown)”.
