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Fibrenamics Ignite Sessions: when looking at technologies is a wrong step for companies
Cycle of events organized by Fibrenamics - International Platform of the University of Minho ended with the presentation of innovative products and the participation of Ernst & Young, Nissan, Moviflor, Farfetch and Salsa.
The auditorium of the Centro Cultural Vila Flor was filled this Tuesday to receive the last ‘Ignite Session’. A session to present and discuss market trends and opportunities, where digital economy and sustainability were the main themes and where Fibrenamics presented three new products with innovative technologies.
Sérgio Ferreira, Executive Director - Customer & Digital Marketing at Ernst & Young, was one of the invited speakers and was responsible for the main lecture of the event. In a discussion about the expectations of new consumers Sérgio Ferreira recognizes that the most important thing for a company is to know the customer, “whoever does not start with this step and, as before, looks at processes and technology is having the wrong focus”, he clarified.
The Director of EY highlights as key elements for this change of mindset the connectivity that enabled the democratization of knowledge and the mobile element that corroborated the access to the Internet. "Anyone can compete with large companies by sending the product or service that develops the home of all consumers, something unthinkable in the recent past," he added.
The debate of the session brought together Vanessa Arlandis, Head of eCommerce & Marketing Digital at Moviflor, Fernando Martins, Head of Product at Farfetch, Sílvia Amaral, Electric Mobility Project Manager at Nissan and Alexandra Ferreira, Product Management Director at Salsa.
The four speakers discussed digital economy and sustainability strategies and shared with the audience some of the success stories in these areas of the brands they represent.
Defense, Construction and Furniture win innovative products
The Ignite Session was also the showcase for the presentation of three new models demonstrating the technologies developed by the Platform of the University of Minho.
FiberShield, a green composite with electromagnetic shielding capability and for military, medical and aeronautical applications, BCR - Braided Composite Rods, braided bars for structural reinforcement and monitoring, and Smart_Chair, a sustainable armchair with heating capacity embedded in the material.
The three products and respective technologies are now available to be hosted by companies that want to explore them in a Call of Spin Offs launched during the event by the Coordinator of Fibrenamics, Raul Fangueiro.
Summary of events in free eBooks
The Ignite Sessions started in 2018 with a focus on the debate on new technologies and business opportunities resulting from the investigation guided by the Intelligence unit of the Fibrenamics Platform.
Materials, Technologies and Products. These were the themes of the three Ignite Sessions that made known the main market trends in these areas.
Session summaries are now compiled into eBooks available on the Fibrenamics website.