Tec Labs was once again present at Web Summit, held from 11 to 13 November, alongside the University of Lisbon (ULisboa) and its vibrant innovation ecosystem.
Throughout the three days, ULisboa hosted a stand that welcomed projects from several faculties. On 11 November, the Faculty of Sciences (Ciências) was represented by two initiatives: the project PureTinker (Daniel Valente-Matias) and Ciências ULisboa spin-off KeepIt (João Paulo Silva), which had the opportunity to showcase their work to an international audience.
In parallel with Web Summit, ULisboa organised the UniVerse – Entrepreneurial Academy at the Portugal Pavilion. Tec Labs and Ciências had a strong presence there as well. Our innovation project IMAGI Health was selected to represent ULisboa in the student category of the UniVerse pitch competition – and won first place, standing out among projects from universities across the country!
Tec Labs and Ciências were also featured in the UniVerse demo rooms with the spin-off Delox and the projects TranquilBite and Intent Prediction from Physiological Signals.
Beyond showcasing and supporting our community, Web Summit was also an opportunity for the Tec Labs team to learn and explore emerging perspectives in innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment. We attended several impactful talks and masterclasses covering investment trends, startup growth, the European innovation landscape, and design principles. These sessions offered valuable perspectives on what investors look for, the challenges of scaling deep-tech solutions, and the importance of building products with purpose and clarity. A particular highlight was the talk “Empathy and the Reinvention of Design” by Peter Skillman, where we discovered that he was one of the creators of the well-known Spaghetti Tower Marshmallow Challenge – an exercise we frequently use in our entrepreneurship workshops. His insights on empathy and human-centred design strongly resonated with our mission and approach at Tec Labs.
While this year’s Web Summit was heavily dominated by discussions on artificial intelligence, Tec Labs chose to focus its attention on themes that resonate strongly with our mission: human-centred innovation, empathy, deep-tech science, and the meaningful connections that drive impactful entrepreneurship. These perspectives reinforced the importance of grounding technological breakthroughs in real human needs and scientific excellence.
On the final day of Web Summit, our spin-off Delox was also featured in a BETA stand, further highlighting the strength and maturity of its technology.
Tec Labs is proud of the visibility, learnings, and recognition achieved during this year’s Web Summit. Experiences like these reinforce our commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
