In this edition of the "A chat with companies" section, we talked to Hugo Maia, Innovation Director at Glintt. In his opinion, it is essential "to have the right partners to face new challenges", and Glintt has already found these partners with the University of Porto.
Q: How important is Glintt's relationship with the scientific and technologic community?
A: Glintt is a technology creation company with a focus on the Health area. The markets in which we operate - technology and health - have specific characteristics that make them very demanding. On the one hand, the rapid obsolescence to which technology is subject, on the other hand the high sensitivity of the knowledge we have acquired about human health.
These characteristics are the main motivators for Glintt to dedicate a significant part of its budget to Innovation, namely in collaboration with other institutions. In this context, our relationship with the scientific and technological environment is clearly an accelerator and a differential variable for the products we manage and develop every day at Glintt. Above all, we must ensure that we are putting tools with the latest technology in the hands of healthcare professionals, which are useful and produce increasingly efficient results.
Q: How have Glintt and the University of Porto been collaborating?
A: In recent years, we have had several interactions with the University of Porto. We have met people from different areas of activity, from students, to teachers and researchers, who count on us to make various projects come true. For us, this is a source of pride and gives us an ability to always be at the forefront with regard to the different topics in which we are involved.
Of these interactions, I highlight the supervision of students in the development of their theses or the hosting of students to carry out curricular internships. From this partnership, different proposals for new technologies have emerged that are tested and implemented within the scope of these theses.
More recently we participated together in submitting to a Collaborative Lab - the Innov4Life CoLab. The strategic vision of this CoLab is to invest in promoting the health and well-being of all citizens, by accelerating the development and adoption of the most appropriate digital health solutions.
Finally, I would also like to highlight the development of the ideas submitted in the Glintt Inov 365 Program. For example, one of the ideas was submitted by a former student at the University of Porto (Porto Business School), who is currently a Glintt employee.
Q: What are the main challenges these two players face?
A: The main challenge facing the two institutions is to develop their ability to continue adapting to current times. The most important factor for surviving in modern society is "taking nothing for granted". Take the world pandemic caused by Covid19 as an example: I am sure that at the end of 2019, when the next year was projected, no one took this factor into account in their annual management exercise. Thus, knowing how to count on unpredictability and developing the capacity to adapt to society is essential to ensure that we remain relevant in our market and that we continue to add value in the products and services we create - what I call creating “relevant value”. Today more than ever it is not enough to add value, but rather to add something that is in fact relevant and adopted by the majority.
In the end, these are the attributes that make us competitive, whether in the area of technology or in the area of teaching / research. Having the right partners to face the new challenges will be half the job. I believe that Glintt has already found these right partners at the University of Porto.
