Time to prevail

We are facing difficult, complex and uncertain times. Much has been said and written about them, and there is no reason why we should spend time developing another version, another variant, which would certainly add nothing. However, it is crucial to focus all our attention and efforts in monitoring the situation, assessing its evolution and potential impacts, developing and implementing actions that minimise the consequences, identifying people and organisations to whom we can be useful at this stage (individually or collectively) and in mobilising our best resources and skills, in order to provide a useful and timely response.

As we know, in airplanes, in the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, we must first ensure our protection and secure our oxygen mask, before helping our children. In this sense, it became necessary to ensure the safety of our employees and the efficient functioning of the institution – which we did, in record time. More specifically, we adopted and implemented the recommendations of official entities, particularly with regard to cleaning and disinfection, social isolation and quarantine; introduced new processes and circuits or adapted existing ones; developed, altered, integrated and operationalised the support systems and tools.

Unsurprisingly, the fact that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have always been the foundation of our institution and its activities was quite important for this transition. However, it were the people who – with their skills, experience, readiness and a strong sense of duty – made it possible, with the professionalism and timeliness we can all witness today.

Now that INESC TEC is prepared to continue operating under these new conditions, it is time to redirect our attention towards the outside, to our position and our intervention in the country as a whole, in its economy and alongside its citizens; as well as towards our partners and customers, and all the collaborative actions at hand.

For this reason, we will keep working with the clients and partners involved in our contracts and projects, to cooperatively assess the conditions for their execution and, if necessary, take adequate measures to ensure their continuity. We shall also put our skills and experience at the service of said organisations, particularly in the area of digitisation, so they can overcome the current internal (remote access to information, collaborative telework, information security, etc.) and external (redesign of products and services for digital channels, access to e-commerce/business platforms, reorganisation of supply chains, etc.) needs and challenges.

It’s also relevant to point out that we are already promoting or collaborating on numerous initiatives and projects aimed at addressing, quickly and effectively, some of the most urgent needs we face collectively, or collecting and processing information about these types of phenomena – which will allow us to deal with them with more knowledge, presently and in the future.

ICTs are probably the most pivotal and essential technologies for the management and resolution of the crisis we are going through, but also for the development and implementation of the “new economy” that results from it (even more than it happened before). INESC TEC has singular competences in these fields and, therefore, unique responsibilities.

We will certainly respond to this challenge by continuing to do what we do best: placing scientific and technological knowledge at the service of the economic development and the well-being of citizens.

José Carlos Cardeira, Member of the Board of Directors