“We are here to celebrate the crazy ideas of our former students,” said professor Luís Caldas de Oliveira, vice-president of Técnico for Entrepreneurship and Corporate Relations at the opening of the 9th meeting of IST Spin-Off® Community. The event took place this Wednesday, November 22, in salão nobre and brought together representatives from the 53 companies that were already part of the community, as well as some students and professors from Técnico, to welcome the three new companies: Chill Time, Landing.jobs and Charge2C-NewCap.
Rui Silva, former student of Materials Engineering, represented Charge2C-NewCap, which aims to develop electric energy storage solutions and is currently manufacturing full scale supercapacitors.
Daniel Vila Boa, Founder and CEO of Chill Time, explained his journey from Técnico to the moment he became a successful entrepreneur, but he also shared the obstacles that he had to overcome. “Being an entrepreneur was not my plan, things were happening and entrepreneurship was then the end result”. He came from South Africa in the middle adolescence, which made him create a network that keep him connected to his roots. When he joined Técnico he was already na entrepreneur but “he was learning more and developing skills to improve the projects that I was involved in”. The international competition made the project fail. Chill Time “is the result of a lot of work and focus”. At the beginning the company was focused on games – worldwaronline.com, but today “we build and grow products in joint-ventures as a technology partner”, says the alumnus.
“Técnico was an influence in many aspects”, said Pedro Oliveira, founder of Landing.jobs. “Our company is focused on talent because it is the most important.”, noted the alumnus. “We ask people what they really want to know” and “We probably would not be here today if not for Técnico”, he reaffirmed.
“I am very pleased to be here, to attend such events”, said the president of Técnico, professor Arlindo Oliveira. “I really enjoyed hearing that you recognise Técnico as an important milestone in your journey and I feel deeply touched”, said the president of Técnico highlighting the importance and relevance of the IST Spin-Off community.
