Open Call allocates €100,000 to innovation and technology activities

The 10 activities awarded with a total of 100,000 euros are already known within the scope of the 2022 edition of the Open Call, a municipal initiative aimed at funding collective, national or foreign entities and organizations that present activities promoting the development of the technological ecosystem of the city of Porto.

Each of the selected activities will receive a maximum funding of 10,000 euros to contribute to the promotion of innovation and digital transition in the city. In this 6th edition of the Open Call, 47 applications were received.

The initiative, promoted by the Municipality of Porto, is part of the strategy for innovation and digital transition and is coordinated by Porto Digital, through the Porto Innovation Hub platform. This edition has the support of UPTEC – Science and Technology Park of University of Porto.

Each selected activity relates to the following areas of action, defined in the regulation of the initiative: studies, mapping and evaluations of the Innovation and Technology ecosystem; knowledge sharing, training and vocational training, as well as training of citizens for new technologies and Digital Transition; promotion and dynamization of technological communities and promotion of science and knowledge; and valorisation of Innovation and Technology with technology-based companies, namely through support for ideation and experimentation, as well as the development of innovative solutions and services.

In this edition, the activities that will receive the support of the Porto City Council focused mainly on the sharing of knowledge, training and vocational training, along with the training of citizens for new technologies and Digital Transition and also on the promotion and dynamization of technological communities and the promotion of science and knowledge. The funding was voted at the Executive meeting on February 13 and was approved with the favourable votes of all councillors and the abstention of the councilwoman of Bloco de Esquerda.

The Open Call has been held since 2017 and until this edition had more than 10,000 participants in 36 supported activities.

Selected activities:

EXIT! Stories
With the initiative “EXIT! Stories”, Founders Founders intends to tell the stories of some of the main “Exits” of Porto. The objective is to create a powerful instrument for disseminating the ecosystem, which shows that it is possible to build global projects, well invested and with Porto's “quality seal”. Through these stories, it will be possible to prove that it makes sense to invest and work from Porto to the world.

Porto Tech Hub Conference
The Porto Tech Hub promotes several initiatives and events, the main one being the Porto Tech Hub Conference. At this event, participants have the unique opportunity to catch up on the latest and greatest technology trends in programming languages such as Java or JavaScript, Cloud and Infrastructures, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Security or Blockchain. Real technology experts working in these areas will be invited so that participants have the opportunity to learn from the best!

WDL Launchpad
The one-day event “WDL Launchpad”, proposed by the World Data League, promotes the development of ideas for valuing innovation and technology among technology-based companies, based on open-source solutions to social impact challenges arising from the WDL competition.

Cientista Regressa à Escola
The Native Scientist Association creates an innovative Circular Education concept, which facilitates the return of natural scientists from Porto to their 1st cycle school to hold unique and pedagogical science workshops with students. Through this initiative, science, technology and innovation are promoted, inequalities in access to science are combated by reaching schools in more vulnerable or disadvantaged areas and bridges are created between the scientific and school community.

Bombarda Digital Lab
Promoted by the Quarteirão Criativo, the initiative aims, through the realization of a Bootcamp, to mark the beginning of a "digital revolution" in this area of the city, challenging residents, traders, students and citizens to get involved in the ideation of digital solutions and extensions for this physical territory, in a logic of the neighbourhood as a living laboratory for the digital transition.

NFTs Event: The New tech frontier
Due to the constant expansion of the NFT world, Humode intends to create the first NFT event in Porto. Thus, the first step will be taken for Porto to position itself as the world's first NFT-friendly city, helping to improve the NFT ecosystem around it and envisioning many companies and services that may arise from it.

Women(dot)Business – Peer-to-Peer Mentorship
The activity will bring together a group of women technology entrepreneurs, with meetings every three weeks to share knowledge, access information and opportunities and support each other. In addition to the group sharing sessions, facilitated by an executive coach, there will be a set of workshops/masterclasses and an extensive network of business contacts will be created, which will promote business and investment.

BioMakers Porto - Laboratório de Ciência Cidadã
Tinker City (Viva Lab) proposes to show the community of Porto that biotechnology is very close to our daily lives and can be included in the repertoire of creative tools of the most diverse professional areas, such as architecture, design, art, gastronomy, engineering, education, among others. Through a set of actions - from awareness events, workshops to teach how to build laboratory equipment and do experiments, creation of a BioArte piece to a closing event with the presentation of results – the community will be involved and instructed to better understand the importance of this area of knowledge.

Tech Hiring Community Conference (THC)
A conference in Porto that includes a series of community-oriented knowledge sharing events in the area of HR and technology recruitment, periodically organized by Landing.Jobs. The THC series is focused on topics related to Technological Recruitment such as Employer Branding, Talent Attraction, Recruitment and Hiring, Remote Work/Relocation, among others.

PWIT Awards
The Portuguese Women in Tech (PWIT) community emerged with the aim of giving visibility to women involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, showing the incredible activities in which they are involved and which have helped to boost. In what will be its 4th edition, the PWIT Awards will bring reference speakers and celebrate the tech ecosystem, in women, with the presence of local and national players. In addition to the awards, it will be an intense day of knowledge sharing to highlight the fact that women are an active part of the tech world, whose expertise can and should be shared.