The 28th February was a celebration day in Aveiro for Altice Labs and all its collaborators. The innovation center of the entire Altice Group celebrated its third anniversary and, to commemorate this special occasion, an event was promoted with a set of guests representing the innovation ecosystem, which the company has always supported.
Alcino Lavrador, General Manager of Altice Labs, referred to “3 years of Altice Labs, but 69 of history”, a course full of landmarks responsible for the evolution of telecommunications in the country and the world. Of all, Alcino Lavrador highlighted: “Since this anniversary has as its motto our relationship with the Academy and with R&D centers, I recall that one of the milestones that profoundly marks the relationship we have with the Academy today was the birth of the University of Aveiro here in these facilities. It was here that the University of Aveiro worked for many years and this relationship continues to this day”. Concluding that: “And this relationship has been extremely beneficial, since it has allowed us to obtain the knowledge that we have transformed into P&S for the society”.
“The innovation ecosystem at Altice Labs” was the motto for holding two discussion panels. The first, made up of representatives of the universities of Aveiro, Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Minho and Coimbra; the second, by representatives of partner startups from Altice Portugal and winners of the Altice Innovation Award. The importance of the University’s proximity to business, critical success factors of collaboration, new challenges and opportunities in technological innovation projects or critical success factors in setting up a startup were the themes on the table. Both panels were moderated by journalist Mário Crespo. At the end of the discussions, Alexandre Fonseca, Executive President of Altice Portugal, pointed out that “the two fundamental pillars of the innovation ecosystem that has been our focus in the last three years, are the Academy, startups, incubators and company accelerators”.
The afternoon was reserved for the interventions of some institutional guests and for the signing of a collaboration protocol with the Instituto Politécnico da Guarda. The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, praised Altice Labs’ innovation history. “From the pre-paid, in the mid-90’s, to the new Portuguese cork box and the advent of the 5G tested in these laboratories it has been a long journey that is due mainly to all those who perform their daily work here and also those who were trained in polytechnics and university”, he said.
“Since 2016, Altice Portugal has returned to be the company that invests more in research and development according to national and international statistics and this is a fact that should fill us with pride, especially for the evolution of the last years, 2016 and 2017, and this should give us confidence for the future”, according to Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education.
There was also time for the interventions of the President of CRUP and Dean of UTAD, António Fontainhas Fernandes, the President of the CCISP and President of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Pedro Dominguinhos, and the Dean of the University of Aveiro, Paulo Jorge Ferreira. The ceremony was also attended by the Mayor of Aveiro, Ribau Esteves.
Altice Labs, Altice Group’s innovation, research and development center has always been an active part of our country’s Innovation Ecosystem. Working in partnership with universities, R&D institutions, partners, suppliers and customers, it continuously engages in collaborative research, development and innovation projects in a sustained technology leadership strategy. In the last 9 years, 5 million euros have been financed in R&D projects with portuguese universities in the area of technological exploration. They are, on average, 550.000 euros per year that enable the creation of knowledge and give master and doctoral students the possibility of anticipating trends in future technology at the service of society. Some of these funding have given rise to startups that are now in the high technology market and are Altice partners.
Responding to one of its strategic vectors, the proximity to the Territory, it was also announced the opening of a new Altice Labs office, this time in the metropolitan area of Lisbon. According to Alcino Lavrador, General Manager of Altice Labs, “this is part of the proximity strategy to local innovation ecosystems in all regions of the country, allowing channels to be opened, for access to the Altice market, first, and to other geographies already worked by Altice Labs. These officess also function as rapid prototyping laboratories where product ideas are quickly tested in a controlled environment but with connection to the real market”.
A new edition of the Altice International Innovation Award was announced to promote technological innovation and talent in three key areas for the company and the national economy: Telecom, Media & Content and Data & Advertising. After the success of the first two editions, the 3rd edition of the Award has now been presented. Aimed at Startups and Academy, the prize has a monetary value of 75 thousand euros, the biggest ever awarded in Portugal in the area of innovation. The final of this 3rd edition will take place in October in France.
During the event a new Fiber Gateway was presented at the institutional anniversary ceremony. The new Fiber Gateway, fruit of a partnership between Altice Labs and Amorim Cork Composites, the business unit of Corticeira Amorim, promises to add value to MEO customers. A Fiber Gateway with clearly ecological ambitions that promotes one of the largest national products, cork, and that perfectly fits into Altice Portugal’s strategy to promote the country and its resources. “In this way, we combine technology and tradition without losing Portugality”, says the CEO of Altice Portugal. The made in Portugal is once again scoring points and surprising the market.
Some project demonstrations with universities took place during the day. The University of Trás-Os-Montes and Alto Douro (Vila Real) has demonstrated the results of several projects carried out with Altice Labs in the areas of Assisted Living and Augmented Reality. The University of Minho demonstrated a collaborative project in the area of self-configurable networks, based on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. The University of Coimbra has demonstrated several projects in the area of analytics and visualization of complex information on mobility data. The University of Aveiro has demonstrated projects in the area of advanced TV interfaces and a digital platform to support volunteers for people with specific support needs in their personal lives. The Polytechnic of Viseu demonstrated solutions in the area of IoT and Smart Cities (environmental and traffic control verticals). And finally, the Telecommunications Institute demonstrated projects developed in partnership in the area of high-performance antennas for WiFi and the 5G mobilizer project.
Throughout the day, several activities were organized for Altice Labs collaborators. Throughout the morning a peddy paper was held on the Altice Labs campus where the registered teams had to discover several clues scattered around the various buildings and venues to complete the challenge.
The morning of great frenzy culminated with an open-air lunch with spit roasted pork, where all the collaborators of Altice Labs and external guests of the event had the opportunity to socialize for a few hours in a great spirit of celebration and fraternization.
This day ended with the anniversary cake cutting, where once again collaborators and guests gathered to sing the congratulations on another day of growth and achievement for Altice Labs.