INESCTEL - a Spin-off Company from INESC for Technological Development

By João Bilhim

INESCTEL, a company whose objective is the development of technology in the area of telecommunications, was formally established on Thursday the 9th of February. INESCTEL shareholders are Portugal Telecom (PT) and INESC.

With an initial capital of 150 billion Escudos, INESCTEL - Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores nas Telecomunicações, Lda., (Engineering of Systems and Computers in Telecommunications, Ltd.), - is a joint-stock company with its head office in Porto and dedicated to encourage applied research and development in the areas of information systems, services and applications for telecommunications provided by Portugal Telecom. INESCTEL will use the results and take advantage of the existing Research and Development resources at INESC.

At the moment, the expectations as expressed by Prof. José Tribolet, President of INESC, is the consolidation of joint activities to the amount of one billion Escudos by the end of 1995, with recourse to approximately a score of its own qualified staff.

As a plan of activities has not yet been established, it is possible to advance along strategic lines that will define the basic structure for the perfomance of INESCTEL. Thus, INESCTEL has the benefit of engaging in Portugal Telecom projects which have in particular the following characteristics:

Asociated with specific developments for clients and with the evolution of the internal infrastructure of information systems;

• Projects connected to Eurescom;
• Projects that need the articulation of the participation of INESC and of PT in national programs of development of services for Telecommunications and of the Informations Technology Industry and in European Community Programs for Science and Technology;
• Projects related to the participation of national technology in the large infrastructural undertakings of the country.
• Projects connected with the establishment of a framework for advanced training in services and management of telecomunications for qualified staff of PT.