Thinking of the future

Unanimous approval
The President José Manuel Mendonça started by presenting the 2005 Annual Business Report as well as the Activities Report, highlighting the most relevant facts that occurred last year. After the explanation of some points, both reports were unanimously approved.

2005 reviewed
2005 was marked by a number of relevant events and facts, namely the change in the institution’s Board - José Manuel Mendonça replaced Pedro Guedes de Oliveira as President; INESC celebrated 20 years in Porto, which called for a group of events and initiatives that made the institution and its activities outwardly visible. At the same time, the economic activities were stagnated, especially in sectors with great impact in our activity. Regarding the financing programmes, PRIME’s managing bureau, the Foundation for Science and Technology and the European Commission were delayed once again, which limited the development of some of the activities scheduled for 2005, causing some difficulties of treasury, mainly in the last months of the year.

In September, INESC Porto started a strategic planning which addressed issues like research, economic value of knowledge, connection to the economic and social fabric, the internationalization, the financing, the human resources and the internal organization.

New partnerships expected
Thinking of the strategic partnerships, INESC Porto has dynamized the constitution of consortiums with the objective of elaborating applications to the ADI’s Excellence Centres. The result was the participation in 9 applications, from which 5, in a universe of 13, are already in the second phase. INESC Porto is also strongly involved in MANUFUTURE Technological Platform (Future Manufacturing Technologies) and in the national initiative Forum MANUFUTURE Portugal. It was one of the entities chosen to integrate the Special Support Action Leadership, financed by the European Union. INESC Porto is part of a network of academic institutions and companies created with the objective of organizing the national participation in the next Framework Programme, for Information and Communication Technologies, namely around eMobility Technological Platforms (Mobile and Wireless Communications Technology) and NEM (Networked and Electronic Media).

Strategic Protocols
INESC Porto also signed protocols with a strategic strand, namely the Collaboration Protocol with the FCCN – Fundação para a Computação Científica Nacional (Foundation for the National Scientific Computation), the Collaboration Protocol with the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), the Collaboration Protocol with MOG solutions, the Collaboration Protocol with CNR and FATRONIK Foundation and the Collaboration Protocol with CETAC.com/FLUP – Centro de Estudos das Tecnologias, Artes e Ciências da Comunicação (Centre for Technologies, Arts and Communication Science Studies).

Internal Restructuring
Regarding the reorganization and internal solidification, in 2005, according to the Plan, the changes established in 2004 were implemented and strengthened. The Information and Communication Technologies Unit and the Manufacturing Systems Engineering Unit were restructured; two new departments were created from the Communication and Informatics Service and the library services are now managed in the Faculty of Engineering’s library.

Increase of Publications
As an Associate Laboratory, there was a very positive evolution when it comes to the institution’s scientific production, with special emphasis on the number of publications in international magazines and books, that went from 49 in 2004 to 66 in 2005 (after an increase of 27 to 49 between 2003 and 2004). So, from 2002 to 2005, the number of publications in magazines increased fourfold.

Definition of new focal research areas
INESC Porto has developed a group of activities aiming at the creation of a new R&D area in innovation management, stressing the assessment of the areas and competencies to develop; the establishing of the internal team; the preparation of a number of proposals of R&D projects that make it possible to lay the foundations for the new area’s activity; the identification and development of national and international partnerships and the analysis of financing sources for the new area. The results of this activity were very positive, which justified the decision of the Board to create a group of Science, Technology and Innovation Management.

Property Manual Production
Concerning the value of the R&D results, INESC Porto’s Intellectual Property Manual was created in 2005, with the support of Clarke Modet & Co. This work, extended for more than 6 months, has come to show not only the relevance but also the complexity of the issues related to the protection of the intellectual property rights in general, and in institutions like INESC Porto in particular.

Twenty years
In the context of communication and internal cohesion, the 20th anniversary celebrations were also a reason for the development of some activities of reinforcement of internal harmony, from among which we stand out the social gathering in Quinta de Segade. Besides, the institution continued to promote group activities such as the football tournament and events dedicated to fellows and foreign researchers that work in INESC Porto. The regular publication of our Bulletin is also worth mentioning because it has been a crucial instrument of communication, mainly internal, of the institution.

Projected success
In reference to the external communication and image, there were several events that projected the institution’s image at both national and international levels, namely the ones that correspond to the 20th anniversary celebrations. Some examples of these are the Cycle of Conferences under the subject Scientific Culture and Innovation, in which several guests participated; the visit of Jorge Sampaio, the Head of State; the photography exhibition integrated in the collaboration protocol between INESC Porto and the Faculty of Fine Arts of Porto and the closing session of the 20th anniversary celebrations that included speeches by Daniel Bessa and Pedro Guedes de Oliveira and the visit of the Minister for Science and Technology, Mariano Gago. The public impact of these activities ensured a strong presence in the media, which resulted in over 100 news during 2005 (there were only 65 in 2004).

More Ciência Viva
As an associate of the Ciência Viva Programme, INESC Porto continued to participate in some projects with schools and took in trainees from high-schools, in an action coordinated by the programme.
The visit of Mariano Gago coincided with the Ciência Viva Programme week (that brought high-school students to R&D institutions) which allowed the Minister to get in contact with the students and teachers visiting INESC Porto.

External Scientific Advisors with new elements
Considering it has always been hard to adjust the agendas of all the External Scientific Advisors, making it impossible to guarantee the presence of specialist members in every relevant area of INESC Porto, the Board proposed the extension of this Committee so that it is possible to ensure the debate in all the areas, even when some members are not available.

So, it was suggested that the concept of the External Scientific Advisors was redefined. The idea was to create a fund for scientists who would, under the coordination of the respective President, carry out audit missions, perform internal assessment and advise INESC Porto’s Board. According to the circumstances and objectives of the future actions, the new members will be chosen which does not imply that all the members are summoned to all the occasions.


The External Scientific Advisors were proposed the inclusion of more elements: Faramarz Farahi – Professor and Chairman – Department of Physics and Optical Science – University of North Carolina at Charlotte, EUA; and Gerald Bernard Sheblé, Maseeh Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering – Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering – Portland State University, EUA.


Finally, INESC Porto’s Board asked the General Council permission to address invitations to other people, in order to ensure the right coverage of the several areas of interest of INESC Porto. This proposal was unanimously approved.

Review of the spin-offs
Regarding INESC Porto spin-off companies, the Board informed that, just like it had already been announced, the “4VDO – Sistemas e Serviços Multimédia, S.A.” company was liquidated and dissolved last 30th of December 2005, which is already reflected in INESC Porto’s accounts. They added that the PME Capital, main shareholder of the company, appreciated the responsible and harmonious way the process happened.


After that, it was time to analyse the situation of “Fibersensing – Sistemas Avançados de Monitorização, S.A.” which is in an interesting phase, with more and more clients and with a great development potential.

Increase of capital in sight
José Manuel Mendonça also talked about the evolution of INESC Porto’s financial situation from 2001 to 2005, ending with the lack of associative capital for the level of INESC Porto’s operation and with the need to reinforce that capital. Given that the elements there manifested an open mind regarding the subject, INESC Porto’s Board was in charge of working on a reasonable proposal of reinforcement of the associative capital in order to adjust it to the operation level.

INESC Porto’s Board has also informed the General Council about some necessary tasks already carried out towards the membership, as associates of INESC Porto, the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto and the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (the latter had already begun some time ago). The associates are supposed to address an invitation to these institutions after which the Board should negotiate the terms of accession. The Board expressed the possibility of addressing invitations to other institutions and companies.

The directors also informed the General Council that INESC Porto had been invited by the Porto City Hall to associate to the application of the Agência de Energia do Porto (Porto’s Energy Agency) to the European Commission’s Intelligent Energy programme. For now, the agency will take on the legal form of non-profitable association, with legal personality and financial autonomy. Porto City Hall will have a major participation and the power to designate the President of the Board and the CEO. The terms of the participation - particularly the aspect of each associate’s contributions - are not defined yet. The participation of INESC Porto in the creation of Agência de Energia do Porto has been approved, in terms of principle, and now the Board is assigned the task of evaluating and negotiating the conditions of the participation.

President of the General Council says goodbye
At last, José Novais Barbosa - the President of the General Council and member designated by the University of Porto - declared it would be the last time he would take on this position given that his mandate as Rector of the University of Porto is about to end. Therefore, the new elected Rectory should nominate another member. The rest of the General Council’s members and the Board members thanked him for his commitment and dedication while President of the General Council since INESC Porto’s foundation.