All of a sudden, it's not easy to imagine what links coach Domingos Paciência to researchers from the University of Algarve and the Algarve company Inesting. But the answer is simple: the common denominator between these three parts is the Footdata project, an example of innovation Made in Algarve, which is intended to be leveraged through the project «Algarve 2015 Empreender e Inovar +», launched this week.
The University of the Algarve (UAlg) and the Business Association of the Algarve Region (NERA) joined in this initiative, as they had already done nearly a decade ago, to set up the Regional Innovation Center of the Algarve (CRIA) ). This structure is today UAlg's Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer Division and the engine behind this project.
Technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship, through the transfer of knowledge from the university to the private sector, are already a palpable reality in the Algarve, as demonstrated by the Footdata project, which is about to launch the «Tatik» application on the market. This is an example of public-private collaborative action that can and should be more common, which led both entities to bet on «Empreender e Inovar +».
One of the main objectives of this project is to promote the creation of consortia between the University and companies, which «contribute to commercially enhance the natural, scientific and technological resources of the region». A definition that fits like a glove to the consortium created by UAlg and Inesting.
The story of Footdata and the «Tatik» application, which is being developed within the scope of the project, is one of those worthy of going to a manual of good practices of the joint work between universities and companies, to take advantage of a market niche that was identified.
Domingos Paciência, then Sporting coach, revealed to a friend, a researcher at UAlg, that he needed a team management tool with certain characteristics. Seeking to find a solution to this problem, Carlos Gomes challenged academics and entrepreneurs to unite. And the marriage couldn't have been happier.
Always with the former Portuguese international as the central element and project consultant, João Rodrigues (UAlg), Rui Brás (Inesting) and the teams they coordinate have been working on the Tatik application, which will have a professional and a social aspect, always oriented to the world of football.
For the professional component, a very elaborate (and impressive, at least in the eyes of non-experts) Information Acquisition and Management System for the Football department is being created.
Among the many functions of «Tatik», as far as professional work is concerned, is a player detection and tracking system, which allows the coach not only to know, in real time, the exact position of his players on the field, but also the deviations of each or the set in relation to the stipulated tactics. All this is associated with the most varied types of statistical tools, information that is all integrated and treated together.
And if this tool is useful to know what the coach's team or the club that uses it is doing on the field, it is useful to assess the opponent in real time, allowing to take the tactical component to another level.
There will also be a social component, whose targets are coaches, managers and football players, which, among other things, focuses on career management and is also a social network with a «vertical profile», in other words, «a website where the football industry can make its own network».
If, by itself, the project already left the audience with the feeling of witnessing an “on-going” innovation, those responsible for the project tempered the presentation with a surprise that, although not a novelty or a recent innovation, served to remember that technologies are there to be used.
Since Domingos Paciência could not be present, the technician was contacted directly by video call, so that he too could give his testimony about the project he had conceived.
because innovating is necessary
The presentation of the Footdata project was one of the examples given during the presentation session of the project «Algarve 2015 Empreender e Inovar +» to show that it is possible to do much more, if we combine creativity and knowledge with entrepreneurship.
In addition to the creation of company-university consortia, the project will also focus on promoting entrepreneurial initiative and entrepreneurship, as well as «creating an innovation ecosystem in the Algarve».
The promotion of entrepreneurship involves the holding of another ideas competition «Ideias em Caixa», at the end of 2013, which aims to help aspiring entrepreneurs to move forward with the good projects they have in mind.
But, so that it is not just about ideas and the Business Plan, it is necessary to «create the bases so that, in the post-project, the dynamics are maintained and strengthened», so that ideas are transformed into companies and jobs , said the director of CRIA Hugo Barros. Hence the need for the innovation ecosystem.
To achieve the goals they set themselves, UAlg and NERA set an example, creating a consortium of entities. The business association assumed the responsibility of «helping to identify companies with innovation potential» and the university «will survey the critical mass» it has, in terms of knowledge production. From here, it's about bringing the two parts together and trying to make new products or companies emerge.
Hugo Barros also stressed that «Algarve 2015 Empreender e Inovar +» does not have to be exclusively from NERA and UAlg and challenges other actors in the region to get involved. For now, CCDRA is also linked to the project, which could be decisive for the success of the Smart Specialization strategy that this entity is putting together.
Not least because, underscored by the heads of NERA and UAlg, Vítor Neto and João Guerreiro, the path to a region that is stronger from an economic point of view necessarily involves innovation.
Comments