Técnico reporting team have walked about 10 km every day at the web summit. Attending lectures, visiting startup exhibition stands, interviewing current students and meeting with Técnico alumni are the agenda for these days.

Time is precious and Inês Duarte knows that. She studies Biological Engineering at Técnico and she is a Web Summit volunteer. At the end of her shift she still has time to visit the exhibition stands. Tomorrow she will have a free day so she will attend as many lectures as possible. “This is my second volunteering experience at the Web Summit. I think that we have to take advantage of the fact that this event is held in our city”, says the Técnico student. “This year we have a lot of debates on environment going on. It’s very important to link environment with technology because it will help us solve our sustainability problems”, she stresses. “It makes perfect sense that a prestigious school like Técnico participate in this event”, says Inês Duarte after visiting the Técnico exhibition stand.

The third day was dedicated to robotics and artificial intelligence. According to João Fernandes, Técnico alumnus (Information Systems and Computer Engineering) and founder of DocDigitizer, “we are helping companies to start their digital transformation”. The company was founded two and a half years ago and it’s already based in 6 countries. “We already have about 25 clients, including banks, insurance companies and robotics companies”, shares the alumnus. At this moment, the startup “is trying to raise funding to invest in the company’s internationalisation”, so it was obvious to participate for the second time in the Web Summit.

Jorge Moreira and Tiago Bebiano, Técnico alumni and founders of Kresk, attended the Web Summit aiming to captivate new clients and new partners. Kresk is a Portuguese startup specialised in the development of cutting-edge healthcare solutions. “Learning to think at Técnico was key at the beginning of our startup”, says Tiago Bebiano.

Nokia announced at the Web Summit that it would open a new Center of Excellence in Portugal, which will hire more than 100 IT professionals. We talked to Renato Gonçalves, Head of Strategy and Business Development at Nokia Siemens Network and Técnico alumnus. “There are a lot of innovation, companies, ideas and generations at the Web Summit”, he says. “The participation of Técnico in the Web Summit is very important. I think that the universities must be increasingly closer to the market, to reality and to society, and the Web Summit allows that”, says Renato Gonçalves.