Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions – AICOS
30.9.2019
The Fraunhofer AICOS Research Center celebrated its 10th anniversary, last Friday, 27th September, at the Matosinhos Cruise Terminal.
Located in Porto, Fraunhofer AICOS, has been performing research on Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber-Physical Systems, Cognitive Connected Solutions, Digital Farming, Decentralised Health Technology, Living and Ageing with Data, Artificial Intelligence, with the objective of undertaking applied research of direct utility to private and public enterprises and of wide benefit to society.
Last Friday, September 27th, between 3pm and 7pm, we had an event at Matosinhos Cruise Terminal, where several invited speakers have been present: João Sobrinho Teixeira, Secretary of State of Science, Technology and Higher Education; Helena Pereira, President of FCT; João Falcão e Cunha, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto; Konrad Herre, CEO of Sensry GmbH; Frank Treppe, Director, Political and International Affairs of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft; Dirk Elias, Division Manager at Robert Bosch Corporate Research.
Funded by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the largest applied research organization in Europe, the association Fraunhofer Portugal started its history in 2007, when the Portuguese and German Governments established a long-term partnership to explore mutual interests in science and technology. Within this collaboration, the Association Fraunhofer Portugal Research was founded in November 2008, having as founding Associates the Fraunhofer Society (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) and the German-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCILA).
Fraunhofer Portugal’s research activity started in 2009 with the creation of Fraunhofer AICOS, the Fraunhofer Portugal Research Centre for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions (AICOS), a partnership between Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the University of Porto (UP), located in Porto.
Promoting research of practical utility and making the difference by promoting and coordinating the cooperation between its research centres, other research institutions and Industry partners, AICOS has evolved significantly, raising notoriety and growing its team in size as well as in diversity of competences. Starting with only 12 employees, AICOS is now employing almost 80 highly-qualified researchers, primarily engaged through permanent or fixed-term research work contracts, divided in two offices, Porto and Lisbon.
In our first 10 years of operation, we have trained industry professionals and researchers, we had close to 100 research projects and a client portfolio from a broad range of areas, including health, agriculture, retail or energy.
Since 2009, AICOS has been involved in 10 European projects and established partnerships with over 150 organisations in 31 countries.