José Carlos Caldeira started at INESC as a volunteer – a story that begins with workbooks and all-nighters. The halls of his father’s factory and the gregarious spirit he found at INESC granted him tools to “speak the language of both sides” and to repeatedly try to bring industry and research closer.
There is no lullaby capable of surpassing the noise when you live next to a metal machine shop. José Carlos Caldeira got used to the “iron melody” of the angle grinder and used to fall asleep as if the sound the disc cutting iron was an orderly and comforting buzz: his mother told him that he learned to fall asleep to the sound of the machines. But what he really enjoyed were the “field trips” with his father down the Rua do Almada, in Porto – the “Mecca of ironware” in the northern region: wearing a tailored overalls, with a pocket fitting many pencils, he used to return to his father’s shop as a miniature worker. The workshop was his “playground”.
“Born in a metal machine shop” is almost the perfect origin story for José Carlos Caldeira’s career. After spending many hours, days and years observing the shop up close, he found INESC – the starting point for decades of connection between industry and the knowledge generated far from the symphony of angle grinders and machinery-filled halls.
“Up to a certain point, my life was strictly connected to my father’s shop; I got to know several companies and entrepreneurs, and I arrived at INESC TEC with significant experience. I think it was something that, inevitably, marked my career”, explained the now Consultant to the Chairperson at INESC TEC.
At INESC “doing crochet”
José Carlos Caldeira’s history here goes back 35 years. He left for the National Innovation Agency (ANI) in 2014, “the most complex challenge, but not necessarily the greatest”, and returned in 2018. But this story begins with workbooks. January 1983. During the third year of the Electrical Engineering course at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), he received an invitation to join a recently created institute, looking for volunteers. The task was typing the content of notebooks using a keyboard – “which became quite the satisfaction”. Especially since he carried out these tasks using the first Macintosh computers in Portugal.
At the time, Artur Pimenta Alves invited him to make wire wrapping prototypes. We’re talking about a communications-related work, different from mechanics and electrotechnical tasks, but he accepted the challenge. He “fondly” remembers those times at INESC, which he called “doing crochet”. As a volunteer – “gladly” -, there were several all-nighters, since he felt quite “privileged”: he got the opportunity to work with “top-notch” equipment, computers and systems.
INESC became a new playground “I am a very hands-on person; I like to touch and move things. The course did not provide this more practical work, and I was doing it all the time at INESC.” Later, when it came to choose his research area, he decided on industrial automation, coordinated and led by Professor Borges Gouveia. There, he noticed he had some “competitive advantage”. “I think this influenced my career at INESC, because I was the only person in that universe of people who had some industry experience. I always found it easy to establish this connection between research, industry and companies, because I knew the language from both sides. In this environment, I felt comfortable asking questions and testing things. It was a great opportunity: I took it, I liked it, and I remained – and I believe INESC also liked me”.
A group of people, a group of friends
It’s a fair assessment. At INESC TEC, he kick-started a career as a researcher that quickly broadened. The context helped him to inspire action. There, he found a “group of people” looking to “free themselves from the atrophy” of the university setting. Researcher, advisor, director, teacher – but one of the biggest challenges was getting invited by Pedro Guedes de Oliveira to join the board. “A brave decision”, he said, because he was the first person “without a PhD or a teaching position” to take on this role. Some years before, he met José Manuel Mendonça, who had just returned to Portugal; together, they planned the changes to the organisational model that would leverage INESC Porto. Both moments were crucial to acquire knowledge to took on the ANI challenge.
As an aficionado of “deep discussions” – to contribute, never to clash with other people – he found, at the Institute, a space to debate ideas with people “who shared similar outlooks on certain issues and my ambition”. Clearly, INESC had a major impact on the country’s evolution in recent years. Before leaving ANI in 2014, he said that he had witnessed the transformation of INESC into a solid institution, acknowledged nationally and internationally – promoted by “a group of friends”. But then, he rephrased it: “it was not a group of friends; it was a group of people who shared an ideal and became friends along the way.”
A father’s son
It’s impossible to summarise José Carlos Caldeira’s career between 1983 and 2024 without a thorough listing exercise. Every now and then, during a conversation that easily slipped into what still needs to be done, José Carlos Caldeira took some detours through the list of “crazy things” he got himself into: the creation of Produtech, short periods at ISPIM, ESA, and EFFRA, the birth of Manufuture, the Economic and Social Council and, more recently, the “career” of guest professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto.
“This list covers maybe a third of all things I’ve done”, he claimed. “I really enjoy what I do and consider myself quite fortunate – not everyone can say the same. And several dimensions are interconnected, with continuous work. I perceive them as missions, not as work per se, and I feel obliged to accept them. From a professional perspective, I believe that no one is at a loss – neither myself nor INESC.”
And with everything going on, is there any time for the rest? According to José Carlos, “at the end of the day, I am my father’s son”. The father who told him to choose electronics, since he could learn mechanics at the shop downstairs – where he used to find him during the weekend: “it was his hobby”.
Music to one’s ears and a trip to the land of tango
“Whenever I wanted to see him happy, all I had to do was go to the shop at the weekend – where he was, thinking about how to improve his tools. To me, most of these duties are also hobbies, but I’m not that extreme”, he joked. He got the time to advance a professional career “sacrificing two things”. sleeping and spending time with his family.
But he’s an expert at finding clear spaces in his busy schedule. Recently, he crossed two entries off the bucket list: feeling, in Lapland, the sensation of -30ºC, and piloting an airplane. But there are many things he wishes to accomplish before reaching 60. Long after the unrestrained roar of the angle grinders, he discovered another soundtrack that spanned decades: jazz. With so much time on the road, he got used to plan itineraries and find the best spots. “There are those who will make a list of restaurants” – which he also does -, but that’s not a priority. “I usually make itineraries with jazz clubs, to know and listen to new things.” And this pleasure also features exploration.
The plan, for the upcoming years, is to open a jazz club in Porto. “I believe that the city misses this type of spots; there are many clubs already, and I truly think this is a good opportunity. If everything goes well, fine; if not, it’s OK.” Even if he fails, he’ll always recall his trip to Argentina. From the land of tango, he brought “a more interesting type of exercise”, when compared to spending many hours “inside the gym”. And not even the regular trips prevent him from getting on his dancing shoes: he knows many dance schools in the country – and he often goes to a dance school in Brussels.
A firebrand looking for new memories
At the age of 60, “pulling some weight” far from the gym and initiating a PhD at the Milan Polytechnic – because he wants to, not out of obligation -, he found another item to include in said list. After finishing his term at ANI, in 2018, he embarked on a teaching career and began working at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto in 2019 – and, more recently, in a postgraduate degree in Science and Technology Management and Policies. Since April this year, he has been acting as Consultant to the Chairperson at INESC TEC.
Since his return to the “base”, he has happily witnessed “a new generation of people advancing INESC TEC”. “This is also due to the dynamic nature of the institute over recent years. With a new generation of members of the Board, this was a generational shift; and there are many young researchers joining – and improving – at the institution. I believe that the greatest achievement of someone who holds a management, coordination or leadership position is not just establishing a great institution: it’s ensuring the future of said institution.
He witnessed how Pedro Guedes de Oliveira granted many opportunities to this younger generation – “and he did so in a masterful way, when he left and prepared the arrival of Professor José Mendonça and his team”. “And I’m pretty sure that Professor José Mendonça is doing exactly the same thing.”
Is José Carlos Caldeira one of INESC TEC “creators”? He prefers the term “firebrand”. He “created memories”. But he’s always looking for new playgrounds: “I’m a person who goes to different places, introduces new ideas and proposals, mobilises people and gets all hands-on deck – and then, when things are running smoothly, I leave quietly to take on another challenge.”
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