By Bruno Iafelice, PhD (Industry Forum Co-Chair, IEEE ETFA 2025) and Gil Goncalves, PhD (Industry Forum Co-Chair, IEEE ETFA 2025)

The IEEE EFTA 2025 conference, one of the IES flagship conferences, aims to step forward in fostering industry-driven innovation. A highlight of this year’s event, taking place in September in Porto, is the Industry Forum, featuring a special session focused on Startups Solving Industry Challenges. This session will bring together key players from the Portuguese industry cluster PRODUTECH (produtech.org) and from the European knowledge and innovation community EIT Manufacturing (eitmanufacturing.eu), who are facing pressing industry challenges. Alongside them, startups and researchers will propose innovative solutions.

This initiative seeks to redefine the traditional research-to-industry model by integrating open innovation principles and encouraging cultural contamination between established and fast-growing companies, as well as between technology users and providers. Instead of waiting for academic research to turn into marketable innovations, we will prompt industry players to proactively identify critical problems with significant market impact and accelerate the path to viable solutions through dynamic exchanges with innovative small companies and researchers.

Our approach explores new ways to foster collaborations between academia and industry. Beyond knowledge sharing, it emphasizes the importance of strategic partnerships.

By engaging with startups, industries can acquire cutting-edge technologies, streamline product development, and enhance competitiveness. Similarly, startups benefit from access to a Proof-of-Concept environment, funding, infrastructure, and industry expertise, making a win-win scenario for all stakeholders involved.

The proposed solutions will come from some of the country’s most promising startups, selected by Portugal Ventures from its investment portfolio, as well as from startups incubated at UPTEC (University of Porto’s Science and Technology Park), ensuring a strong link between academia and entrepreneurial innovation.

IES engineers, researchers, and industry leaders are encouraged to join us in Porto this September to attend EFTA 2025 and engage in these pivotal discussions at the Industry Forum. This is your opportunity to engage with startups, contribute to the development of innovative solutions, and share valuable feedback and ideas that will help us refine our approach to fostering collaboration and innovation across industries. Together, we can continue driving progress and inspiring new solutions in the field.

For more information about the 30th IEEE Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation in Porto (ETFA 2025), visit: https://etfa2025.ieee-ies.org/

Bruno Iafelice, PhD
TVLP Institute
Industry Forum Co-Chair, IEEE EFTA 2025

Gil Goncalves, PhD
University of Porto
Industry Forum Co-Chair, IEEE EFTA 2025