Phase III 2024 Annual Conference

October 29, Técnico Oeiras, Taguspark

In 2024, the UT Austin Portugal Program Annual Conference will bring together leading scientists, industry experts, and business innovators from both sides of the Atlantic to explore the journey of scientific discoveries from inception to market implementation.

Take advantage of the largest knowledge-sharing and networking event of the UT Austin Portugal Program!

Registration is closed.

The Conference Theme Explained

Taking Discovery to Market: Crafting Impactful Science delves into the challenges, strategies and methodologies that bridge the gap between laboratory research and commercial application.

This year’s conference will explore the journey of scientific discoveries from inception to market implementation. To this end, we have picked Técnico Oeiras, TagusPark – also known as the Knowledge City – to be the stage of the Program’s most important networking event.

The agenda of the event includes different types of sessions, from keynotes to round tables and talks. Key topics will include the integration of interdisciplinary research, effective collaboration between academia and industry, and the role of technology transfer offices in facilitating commercialisation. We will also take time to envision the future and reflect on the place of science in its shaping and what it takes to turn scientific discoveries into practical applications to help us tackle tomorrow’s biggest challenges.

The conference aims to inspire and equip participants with the knowledge and tools necessary to enhance the societal impact of their scientific endeavours. Join us as we explore the pathways to transforming groundbreaking discoveries into impactful, market-ready solutions that can drive economic growth and societal well-being.

Our Guests

Impactful Discussions with Leading Minds
(by alphabetical order)

Ana Pires

Researcher and First Portuguese Female Scientist-Astronaut, INESC TEC

Ana Paiva

Secretary of State for Science, Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation

Fernando Silva

Full Professor, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto & INESC TEC

Brian Korgel

Director of The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin

Dan Stanzione

Executive Director of the Texas Advanced Computing, The University of Texas at Austin

Guy Villax

Entrepreneur and Member of CNCTI – Portugal’s National Council on Science, Technology and Innovation

Emir Sirage

General Manager, NewSpace Portugal Agenda

John Ekerdt

Principal Investigator, UT Austin Portugal - UT Austin

Fernando Alexandre

Minister of Education, Science and Innovation

Magda Cocco

Head of Practice Partner (Information, Communication & Technology and Digital Frontiers), VdA, Vieira de Almeida Sociedade de Advogados

Manish Parashar

Director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute and Presidential Professor at Utah's Kahlert School of Computing, The University of Utah

Fernanda Leite

Associate Dean for Research & Professsor, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

Marta Guimarães

Machine Learning Expert, Neuraspace

Ana Vaz

ESA BIC Portugal Manager, IPN

Eduardo Correia

Taguspark CEO

José Manuel Mendonça

National Director of the UT Austin Portugal Program - Portugal

Rui Oliveira

National Co-Director of the UT Austin Portugal Program - Portugal

Madalena Alves

President, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)

Patrick Heimbach

Computational Oceanographer & Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin

Pedro Camanho

President of LAETA, Associated Laboratory of Energy, Transports and Aeronautics

Keshav Pingali

Professor, W.A. 'Tex' Moncrief Chair of Computing, Department of Computer Science and Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin

Rogério Colaço

President of Instituto Superior Técnico

A Forward-Looking Agenda

October 29, Técnico Oeiras, Taguspark

This Conference will be in-person only. Check-in starts at 8:45 a.m.
9.30 a.m.Opening Remarks with Rogério Colaço (IST), Eduardo Correia (Taguspark), John Ekerdt (UT Austin Portugal, USA), Fernando Alexandre (Minister of Education, Science and Innovation – MECI)
10 a.m.Notes from the UT Austin Portugal Colloquium 2024 (Austin, TX): Where do the next research and innovation hotspots lie? with Rui Oliveira, UT Austin Portugal Program (PT)
10.20 a.m.Keynote Speech by Keshav Pingali, The University of Texas at Austin: Taking High-performance Graph Computing from Academia to Industry. Emcee: Fernando Silva, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto
11.20 a.m.Networking Coffee
11.50 a.m.
Envisioning Tomorrow’s World with Impactful Science Round Table, moderated by José Manuel Mendonça, UT Austin Portugal Program (PT)
1.15 p.m.Networking Lunch & E-Poster Exhibition (2022 Exploratory Research Projects)
2.45 p.m.Space Tech: Lessons Learned From Discovery to Market Round Table, moderated by Ana Pires, INESC TEC
4.00 p.m.High-Performance Computing in the Age of AI, with Dan Stanzione, Texas Advanced Computing Center, The University of Texas at Austin.
4.50 pmClosing Speech with José Manuel Mendonça (UT Austin Portugal, PT), Madalena Alves (FCT), Ana Paiva (Secretary of State for Science)
5.15 pmAfternoon Reception
Download a detailed pdf version of the agenda here

Thematic Sessions

Rui Oliveira, National Co-Director of the UT Austin Portugal Program, goes on stage to shed light on the next research and innovation hotspots, building on the first conclusions and recommendations due to come out from the forward-looking symposium that the Program is organising in September in Austin, Texas.

Graph computing on linked or connected data is central to many applications across diverse industries such as FinTech, Pharma and Manufacturing. Data volumes are growing at a staggering rate, and graphs with hundreds of billions edges are not uncommon. Computations on such data sets include querying, analytics, pattern mining, and learning. In many use cases, it is necessary to combine these operations seamlessly to extract actionable intelligence as quickly as possible. In 2021, Pingali cofounded a start-up to meet these needs, based on high-performance graph computing technology developed by his research group at the University of Texas at Austin. Pingali will discuss this journey, and the challenges of running a startup while continuing to be active in research at a top-flight university. To welcome him on stage, Fernando Silva, Full Professor at the University of Porto, and a former Co-Director of the area of Advanced Computing in the previous phases of the Program.

Keshav Pingali has been invited to deliver the Keynote Speech for this year’s edition. Dr Pingali is a Professor and W.A.”Tex” Moncrief Chair of Computing, Department of Computer Science and Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin. He served as Area Director for Advanced Computing in Phases 1 and 2 of the UT Austin Portugal. Pingali has been recently awarded the 2024 ACM SIGPLAN Programming Languages Achievement Award, which is a lifetime achievement award and the highest given by the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN).

As five visionary scientists and entrepreneurs come together to elaborate on impactful science, this thought-provoking round table will offer a forum to discuss society’s next biggest challenges and why and how science will be critical to address and harness them while inviting the audience to reflect on what it takes for science to come out of the lab and drive positive change.  Rather than a glimpse into the future or an ideation exercise generating unrealistic goals, this round table will be a call to action towards achievable goals through bold science.  

Discussants:

  • Brian Korgel, Director of The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin
  • Fernanda Leite, Associate Dean for Research & Professor, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
  • Guy Villax, Entrepreneur and Member of CNCTI – Portugal’s National Council on Science, Technology and Innovation
  • Magda Cocco, Head of Practice Partner (Information, Communications & Technology and Digital Frontiers), VdA, Vieira de Almeida, Sociedade de Advogados
  • Manish Parashar, Director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute and Presidential Professor at Utah’s Kahlert School of Computing, The University of Utah

Moderator:

  • José Manuel Mendonça, National Director of the UT Austin Portugal Program

 

The rapid evolution of space technology (space tech) is reshaping our understanding of the universe and transforming various industries on Earth. “Spacetech – Lessons Learned From Discovery to Market” is a comprehensive exploration of the journey that innovative space technologies undertake from initial discovery to successful commercialization.

The invited panel will talk you through the challenges of turning cutting-edge space discoveries into viable, impactful products and services that not only advance our capabilities in space but also drive technological progress on Earth.

Discussants:

  • Pedro Camanho, President of LAETA, Associated Laboratory of Energy, Transports and Aeronautics
  • Emir Sirage, General Manager, NewSpace Portugal Agenda
  • Marta Guimarães, Machine Learning Expert, Neuraspace
  • Ana Vaz, ESA BIC Portugal Manager, IPN
  • Patrick Heimbach, Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin

Moderator:  

  • Ana Pires, Researcher and First Portuguese Female Scientist-Astronaut, INESC TEC

 

Artificial Intelligence, and in particular Large Language Models and Generative AI, have captured the public imagination in the last several years. This has created a trillion-dollar boom in building infrastructure to support AI, which has proven to be both a blessing and a curse in the existing field of High Performance Computing (HPC). In this talk, Dan Stanzione will trace the contributions of HPC to modern large-scale AI, the implications of AI in HPC going forward (both in terms of science and infrastructure), and talk about the contributions of the UT-Portugal collaboration in advancing HPC in both countries and the world.

E-Posters Gallery

Browse through our E-Poster Gallery to find out more about our 2022 Exploratory Research Projects.
Enter the E-Poster Gallery

Conference Venue

This year, the UT Austin Portugal Program Annual Conference is moving south of Porto to land in Oeiras! In a decisive year for the Partnership as far as its future is concerned, we have picked Técnico Oeiras, Taguspark – also known as the Knowledge City – to be the stage of the Program’s most important networking event. What other place could be best suited to get our community together and other relevant external stakeholders to discuss strategies aimed at bridging the gap between laboratory research and commercial application and unlocking the innovation potential of science?

Contacts

If you have any queries, do not hesitate to contact the Conference Local Organizing Team at
events@utaustinportugal.org.