The 2nd edition of the Hitachi Merit Award in Data Integration and Analytics 2023/2024 took place on April 22, at Técnico – Oeiras campus. The event highlighted the students’ work within the scope of Data Analysis and Integration curricular unit and reinforced the partnership between Técnico and Hitachi.

The prize of 1600 euros was awarded to students Afonso Pinto and Sidnei Teixeira, who stood out for their outstanding academic performance in the curricular unit. In addition, a donation of 1070 euros was given to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DEI), to improve teaching quality.

Joana Mendonça, Vice-President of Técnico for the Oeiras campus, emphasised the importance of maintaining and strengthening relationships with companies. Duarte Teixeira, Director of Engineering at Hitachi Vantara and Técnico alumnus, said “this award aims to support teaching, enhance learning and promote the quality of student training”, adding “above all, students should consider it not only as a merit award, in financial terms, but as a very direct way of enriching their CV and having an outstanding experience’.

The awarded students, Afonso Pinto and Sidnei Teixeira, recognised the importance of the award. Both emphasised the extra motivation that the award provided during their course. ‘Since graduating, I’ve really enjoyed the Database topic, and this project has reinforced my idea,’ stressed Afonso Pinto.

Diogo Ferreira, the professor responsible for the curricular unit, emphasised the importance of this initiative in students’ training and the proximity to Hitachi, which developed the Pentaho software used in the project. ‘The close relationship and the creation of this award was the main motivation for many students”, he shared.