News Highlights

A new job seeker mobile app was developed by researchers at the Systems and Computer Engineering Institute of Porto (INESC Porto). It is called ‘Life Skills VR - Life Skills for Employment in COVID-19 Era through VR Innovation and it could be a swift tool to help mitigate the unemployment rates due to the ongoing pandemic. The project takes on a consortium format that includes countries such as the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy and Malta.

Porto PianoFest 6th edition kicked off yesterday and will run until 8 August, with concerts in several spaces in town. A programme novelty this year is the artistic residencies for musicians. “Vem ouvir pianistas de topo”, which translates as “Come listen top-level pianists” (free translation] is the motto for this edition of Porto PianoFest, an event that gathers internationally recognised pianists in town, who will offer concerts and masterclasses.

The outlining goal is to shorten the response times when dealing with serious patients’ situations, namely politraumayised patients, whose handling must be as swift as possible in order to, literally, increase the chances of saving more lives. Thus, the Hospital de São João wants to have a heliport, as it once did.

Porto is (again) in the international spotlight and this time it involves actress from Porto, Daniela Melchior and the Invicta as ‘characters’ in the latest “The Suicide Squad” film, by James Gunn. The film gets to movie theatres this 5 August.

Starting in September, the Campus Paulo Cunha e Silva will have a daily class programme for performing arts professionals. It will begin after the summer and classes run from Monday to Friday, in the morning, between 9.30 am and 11.30 am. Classes can be purchased as of July, at 3 euros per class. However, there is a class package of 10 classes at 25 euros, which can be purchased via the Online Ticket Office, at campuspcs.bol.pt.

The next “Noite com Morcegos”, aka “Evening with Bats” happens on 6 August, but there are other dates in the timetable that will give you this unique opportunity to enter a not-to-miss nocturnal adventure in the city’s parks and green spaces.

The iconic Lello bookshop in Porto Downtown, sticks out not only for its amazing centennial bookshop allure that combines books and magic settings, but also for inspiring the art work in general; this time, in particular, it drew the attention of the producers of the new action film “Gunpowder Milkshake”, by Israeli director Navot Papusha, a Netflix special.

The editions “Livro Moldura Porto.” and “Catálogo de Fotografias Porto.”, both with graphic design by the Studio Eduardo Aires, have been granted the “Gold” award at the Graphis international prizes, in New York.

The dream of an “ambitious visual and sensory experiment that transports the visitor to different perceptions between the real and the imaginary” is a dream come true with the 24 installations that illuminate the three kilometres in Serralves. This is the “Serralves em Luz” project to refresh and recharge body and soul, starting on 29 July and going until 17 October.

A hybrid car that upon entering low or zero emissions areas automatically runs as an electric vehicle: this type of technology is called BMW eDriveZones and was developed by Critical Techworks, a joint venture by BMW and Portuguese company Critical Software. This technology reaches Porto, Braga and Lisbon in July.