Seeking digital media startups in Portugal

2009 February 11
by Prentiss Riddle

In the first week of March, UTEN and the Digital Media program of the UT Austin|Portugal CoLab will send a team of digital media experts to Portugal as part of our entrepreneur training activities.

As a first step, we’d like to hear from you about digital media startups in Portugal, from the engineer or researcher with a great idea through young companies that are already in the market. Who should we be talking to?

There’s more detail in the comments, but off the top of your head: who are the digital media innovators in Portugal?

from → Entrepreneur Training

11 Responses leave one →
  1. 2009 February 11
    Prentiss Riddle permalink

    During March 1-7 our team will meet with as many digital media entrepreneurs as possible to offer expert feedback on products and business models. Where we find a good fit, we can offer more extensive market research and entrepreneur training, in some cases including intensive mentoring in how to bring technologies to the US market.

    We’re looking for Portuguese innovators using digital media in a full range of applications: advertising and commerce; education and culture; film and television; interactive and mobile devices; music and sound design; online journalism; social media; and visualization.

    The team will consist of technology transfer officers from leading Portuguese universities and science parks as well as digital media experts from the University of Texas at Austin who bridge research and industry experience.

    If you know of Portuguese digital media entrepreneurs who might be interested, please leave your suggestions here or by email at: [email protected] . Thanks!

  2. 2009 February 12
    Prentiss Riddle permalink

    The tips about digital media companies we should know are starting to trickle in. So far we’ve heard about the exciting work at:

    Adegga - social wine discovery

    Handivi - photo and text sharing for mobile phones

    Tarpipe - publishing workflows across social media applications (and a SXSW Web Awards finalist)

    Companies we are already in contact with include AuditMark, Critical Software, EXVA, MOG Solutions, Neoscopio, Take the Wind, Ubisign, Vectrlab, WIT Software, Xarevision and YDreams. See our portfolio for more.

    We’re sure that’s the tip of the iceberg. Who are we missing?

  3. 2009 February 13
    Prentiss Riddle permalink

    And some more suggestions:

    Metatheke - content management and digital library solutions, including the online news and magazine site Recortes.pt

    Survs.com - online surveys done with simplicity and elegance

    Tapestry Software - tools for building 3D gaming and educational environments

    Keep them coming.

  4. 2009 February 16
    Prentiss Riddle permalink

    Ah, yes, and then there are the dozens of sites listed at Web 2.0 em Portugal.

    Some of these, like JumboURL or Cabrão do Pássaro, are fun projects but not exactly serious businesses. :-) Which of the Web 2.0 em Portugal sites are the real contenders?

  5. 2009 February 16
    Carlos Figueiredo permalink

    At Editonweb we have been working hard to introduce innovation on Information, Publishing and Knowledge management & Innovation markets, applying new business concepts and technology approaches to them, and crossing, in an interdisciplinary way, people and fields of interests (communities of affinity) on Arts, Science, Culture and Creativity, with Advertising, Marketplaces and Contents Syndication, surrounding all with a matrix of social networks. Please, let’s talk.

  6. 2009 February 16
    Prentiss Riddle permalink

    Carlos, thanks for introducing Editonweb. Excellent! We’ll talk soon.

  7. 2009 February 23
    André Mendes permalink

    Hi Prentiss,

    Would any of these qualify?

    http://www.camel-entertainment.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=70&lang=en

    https://www.yourzee.com/Default.aspx

    Thanks!

  8. 2009 February 23
    André Mendes permalink

    …and also:

    http://www.myguide.pt/home.aspx

  9. 2009 February 23
    Prentiss Riddle permalink

    André, thanks. The answer is yes, these fall in the scope of what we’re looking for.

    By the way, our team is scheduled to meet with Inovcapital in both Lisbon and Porto. Perhaps we’ll see you there.

  10. 2009 February 25
    jjpf permalink

    [Prentiss, Shall I post this somewhere else? Thanks, João]

    At MIETE (http://www.fe.up.pt/miete) we have been promoting the “hands-on” value bulding innovation process since Setember 2004. We are still in our “early years” but proud to let you know that so far 3 companies have been launched by or students with the business plans developed within the program:

    IDEAVITY
    http://www.ideavity.com/ (Digital Media - 1st place NET/ADI PRIZE in 2006)
    Tomorrow Options Microelectronics S.A.
    http://www.tomorrow-options.com/ (Medical Devices)
    Polight
    http://www.polight.pt/ (New Materials - Won BES Innovation Prize 2008)

    You may wonder why this post?
    This is a challenge to the Digital Media World. I believe MIETE students would be eager to work with you and to build value. I think that together we can make a difference and maybe, just maybe, multiply by ten (our a thousand? Why not!?) the number of startups in the area of Digital Media in the next few years.

    Please let us know about you.
    Best wishes,
    João José Pinto Ferreira
    (MIETE Director, a FEUP/FEP Partnership at U.Porto)
    +351 93 293 45 29
    [email protected]
    http://jjpf.blogspot.com

  11. 2009 February 25
    Prentiss Riddle permalink

    João, good to hear from you! As you know, we’re proud to have Tomorrow Options in the UTEN portfolio and I’ll make sure that Cliff Zintgraff is aware of Ideavity and Polight as well.

    Programs like MIETE which teach practical technology-based entrepreneurship are an important part of the developing ecosystem in Portugal, as are internships and other connections between students and industry.