On 26 March, Instituto Superior Técnico hosted a visit from the Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and the Icelandic Intellectual Property Office (ISIPO) at Alameda Campus (Congress Centre). The meeting, which involved institutional and academic figures, reinforced the valorisation of intellectual property (IP).
The delegation was accompanied by Pedro Amaral, the vice-president of Técnico for Corporate Interface, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, who emphasised the central role of intellectual property in the school’s strategy. ‘Our Intellectual Property Office was created in 1997, [being] one of the first in Portugal, which demonstrates the importance of the topic for Técnico’, he shared. The professor also explained that Técnico has been actively engaged in the IP process generated at the institution – ‘in recent years, we have been promoting initiatives carried out by the Technology Transfer Office that boost entrepreneurship and innovation; we want to keep on creating value and opportunities for our students and researchers.’ Since 2009, with the support of INPI, Técnico has become an Office for the Promotion of Industrial Property (GAPI), dedicated to promoting and disseminating the importance of industrial property.
Ana Bandeira, president of INPI’s Board of Directors, emphasised the importance of the work carried out by Técnico in intellectual property. ‘Técnico is in the top three Portuguese universities with the most registered patents and has an impressive portfolio of 250 patents’, she emphasised. ISIPO’s Director General Borghildur Erlingsdóttir reinforced the interest in collaborating with Técnico: ‘this is the start of a promising partnership’, she said. ‘We want to learn from what they’re doing here and share our experiences, particularly in initiatives to empower women in intellectual property.’
The visit also included a presentation by Filipa Rocha, a Técnico alumna and finalist in the EPO Young Inventors Prize 2023, who presented a project developed as part of her Master’s programme. The researcher explained how her prototype – the Dash robot, compatible with Lego toys – was designed to help visually impaired children, using tactile and visual clues.
Técnico’s intellectual property strategy, which focuses on protecting, managing and valuing IP, was shared by Carla Patrocínio, Head of the Technology Transfer Office at Técnico. Initiatives such as the Pan European Seal, IP Talks and the Lab2Market programme, which have strengthened entrepreneurship and innovation at the institution, were highlighted.
