Limelight

LIMELIGHT series

In a universe of more than 1200 collaborators, there are many months in which we have more than one collaborator with an outstanding performance. So, this led to a change of editorial policy: BIP started to highlight all the nominees of each month, with no merit option (because they all have a lot!). Additionally, and based on editorial criteria, an interview is developed with only one of the nominees.

This month we spoke with Ricardo Araújo (CTM) and Daniel Vasconcelos (SAL)

1. Why did you decide to participate in the Business Ignition Programme (BIP)? 

Daniel: We saw in BIP an excellent opportunity to learn and explore strategies to commercialize this technology, developed at INESC TEC. Getting in touch with the the methods adopted by BIP (Lean Launchpad) is very positive, in a way that makes us, from the beginning, discover and get to know who’s our client.

2. What did the prize mean to you? 

Ricardo: The second place meant a lot to us, not only for all the effort we made along the 12 weeks of a process of technology valuation, but also for the opportunity to visit a centre of excellency, which will most certainly help us through the next steps.

3. How was the idea developed and what role each one had?

Ricardo: The software started to be developed during my master’s dissertation and it has been suffering some changes since then, with the purpose of evolving to a product more appropriate to a clinical environment. Daniel, since our participation in BIP, had a key role in valuating the technology, from the market research to the outline of strategies and partnerships that can push the technology to a more mature and marketable condition.

4. What will happen in the future to this partnership? 

Daniel: The technology will continue to be developed in a way that it can respond to the health professional’s needs and demonstrate its compliance with the existent standards for medical devices. SAL will continue to support the technology, not only from the perspective of managing intellectual property, but also regarding fund raising that can help us create products or services able to serve a highly regulated market such as the medical one.

5. What are the challenges of working at CTM/INESC TEC? 

Ricardo: Since I’m at INESC TEC, specially in the group VCMI of CTM, I’ve always felt challenged to innovate in areas of computer vision and artificial intelligence applied to the interpretation of medical images. This actually comes from the permanent interest of the group in being a reference in this area, which makes us want to be better each day and, above all, have inputs of real value to the medical sector.

6. What are the challenges of working at SAL/INESC TEC? 

Daniel: SAL is an excellent service to face the great challenge which is bringing technology to the real world. We work every day to help researchers to identify their creations, to protect them and to develop strategies to amplify the impact that their technologies could have in society. At SAL we aspire to be recognized for the excellency of our work, according to the best world practices. A sure thing is that there is a lot to be done and change, but I have no doubts that we already have among us a great share of the professionals we need. 

7. We will end by asking you to comment on your nomination, made by the responsibles of CTM e do SAL:

“CTM and SAL make the following joint proposal: these centres coordinations propose for Limelight the researchers Ricardo Araújo and Daniel Vasconcelos for their excellent work developed in the Business Ignition Programme (BIP), related with the project “Assisted Vascular Analysis”, that intends to turn surgery planning a simpler and safer process. Their work allowed this INESC TEC’s solution to gain great exposure and therefore new development horizons of commercial exploitation opened up.”

Ricardo: First of all, I would like to thank this vote of confidence in my work, which means a lot to me. I see this nomination as an indicator that I have been doing a good course at INESC TEC and I will work so that in the future I can keep on fulfilling my goals and the ones of my Centre. I would also like to leave a word of thanks to my colleagues, because they have been vital to this experience, either for the cooperation, or the brotherhood.

Daniel: I’m thankful for the way INESC TEC accepted and supported me in almost a year of work. I think this acknowledgement goes beyond myself, because “Limelight” is only the chain of professionals with whom I have the pleasure of working every day. Many contributed to this little success. It was a happy moment in my professional life, with which I learned several lessons and hope to put then in place on behalf of technologies developed at our Institute.

limelight - december

• Ricardo Araújo, CTM, and Daniel Vasconcelos, SAL

“CTM and SAL make the following joint proposal: these centres coordinations propose for Limelight the researchers Ricardo Araújo and Daniel Vasconcelos for their excellent work developed in the Business Ignition Programme (BIP), related with the project “Assisted Vascular Analysis”, that intends to turn surgery planning a simpler and safer process. Their work allowed this INESC TEC’s solution to gain great exposure and therefore new development horizons of commercial exploitation opened up.”

• Rita Barros, Legal Support

“I would like to nominate Rita Barros from Legal Support as “Limelight” of December, a work that ended 2017 with an outstanding performance. Rita initiated her tasks at Legal Support in September 2016, substituting Joana Gonçalves in complicated duties related to Public Contracting. With her energy, friendliness, competence and efficiency, Rita managed to “uncomplicate” the threatening procedure of public contracting, turning it into something natural, fluid and quick, in what depends on the Legal Support Service. From boats to software, anthropomorphic robots with 7 degrees of freedom to a microwave fusion hoven, Rita bought a little bit of everything, reaching a record number of 97 procedures, between buying and allocating goods, services and work contracts. Her professional expertise and positive attitude deserve our applause.”

• Pedro Macedo, CPES

“CPES nominates for Limelight of December Pedro Macedo. Pedro Macedo had a remarkable performance, especially in December, pulling an all-nighter and sacrifying consecutive weekends to respond to work demands. This dedication, associated with his great sense of responsibility and the technical quality of his work, allowed him to obtain primary results in projects PANACea and ImpInv. Besides the great volume of technical work, he helped to coordinate and integrate the collaboration of LIAAD in project PANACea.”