INESC-ID, “Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores: Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa” is a Research and Development and Innovation Organization (R&D+i) in the fields of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering.

INESC-ID is a private not for-profit institution, registered in 1999, officially declared of public interest, owned by Instituto Superior Técnico (51%) and INESC – Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores (49%). From the reorganization of INESC, five R&D institutes were created: INESC-ID, INOV, INESC MN, INESC TEC and INESC Coimbra.

INESC-ID research impact is focused on four Thematic Lines to which it makes the more relevant contributions: digital transformation and citizenship, life and health technology, energy transition, and security and privacy.

These four Thematic Lines promote synergies among the 11 scientific areas in order to address today’s societal challenges: Artificial Intelligence for People & Society;  Automated Reasoning & Software Reliability;  Communication Networks; Distributed, Parallel and Secure Systems;  Graphics and Interaction; Green Energy & Smart converters; High Performance Computing Architectures and Systems; Human Language Technologies; Information & Decision Support Systems; Nano-Electronic Circuits & Systems; and Sustainable Power Systems.

INESC-ID promotes cooperation between academia and industry by addressing research on daily life issues, such as healthcare, space, mobility, agri-food, industry 4.0, and smart grids. This high level of knowledge transfer is achieved through both competitive research projects and direct contracted research. Therefore, public and private entities have access to a pool of knowledge, resources and services provided through the unique competencies available at the institution.

As an Associate Laboratory since 2004, INESC-ID has an additional responsibility to assist public and private entities facing scientific, health, environmental, cultural, social, economic or political challenges, and to be an active participant in the process of defining the required policies, public or otherwise, to address those challenges.

INESC-ID was evaluated in 2018, like all other Portuguese R&D units, by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). FCT awarded the grade of Excellent, the highest, not only in the overall classification but also in each and every one of the items under evaluation: quality, merit, relevance and internationalization of the R&D activities; merit of the team; appropriateness of objectives, strategy, plan of activities and organization.

INESC-ID was identified by FCT as one of the top 10 Portuguese research units attracting projects and funding from the European Union.

INESC-ID has been very active in participating in R&D+i projects within European Union research projects. This participation has covered all relevant programmes and instruments in the areas within which INESC-ID has expertise, from the more fundamental research to the applied one and encompassing training and strategic initiatives.

INESC-ID is committed to achieving excellence in areas of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering. In several of its areas, INESC-ID already competes at the highest level in the international arena.

Our strategic plan is to leverage these strong foundations to embrace and enlarge multi-disciplinary projects with high impact in digital transformation and citizenship, life and health technology, energy transition, and security and privacy.

INESC-ID goals for the next years are:

• To continue and expand the set-up of inter-disciplinary projects;
• To reinforce the experimental infrastructures;
• To further increase the internationalization, by augmenting the participation in research networks and by increasing the number of international post-doc and PhD students;
• To also increase the number of on-going technology-transfer activities;
• To continue to serve as one of the largest contributors of qualified people (BSc, MSc, and PhD), in cooperation with the universities and schools;
• To improve the number and qualifications of the supporting staff;
• To continue to improve its internal quality assessment mechanisms;

By providing a suitable environment to host and support the best researchers in all areas of Computer and Information Sciences, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Telecommunications, Informatics and Energy, we aim to reinforce INESC-ID as one of the most important players with the know-how required to face the technological challenges of the future.