Last Tuesday, October 31st, the Técnico Campus in Taguspark received a visit from an Algerian delegation. This visit was organized by the Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering: Research and Development in Lisbon (INESC-ID).

The Algerian Committee belongs to the PADICA program (Program to Support Diversification and Improvement of the Business Climate), financed by the European Commission and aims to contribute to the diversified and sustainable economic development of Algeria. On this visit to the Taguspark Campus, we were attended by Mr. Roland Laval, GFA GRPUP Consulting and Mr. Djamel HALLES, Head of Delegation, both coordinators of the group made up of ten members.

The visit began with a welcome session, by Professor Helena Galhardas, Vice-President of IST for the Taguspark campus. In this session, various information about Técnico was present, as well as information regarding the Taguspark campus, namely its training offer, thematic research laboratories and research centres with activities on the campus. The session ended with a question and answer session based on the curiosities of those present.

This was follow by a visit to the Social Robotics Laboratory (GAIPS LAB), led by Ali Kordia, where several demonstrations of robots were present, which help humans in various day-to-day tasks. Astro was one of the robots demonstrated and programmed to stimulate activities to help children with autism spectrum disorders. The last visit was to the Augmented and Virtual Reality Laboratory, led by Professor Anderson Maciel and Professor Sandra Gama, where those present watched a presentation on interactive computer graphics centred on humans and applied to health, social inclusion, education, architecture and manufacturing.

The visit served the purpose of informing the Algerian delegation of European standards in terms of development, innovation and technology and how they could be apply to the program in question.