The 2nd COTEC National Meeting took place at Culturgest, Lisbon, on 19th April, at which his Excellency President Dr. Jorge Sampaio was present. During the event, the president of the COTEC Network Steering Committee, Mr. Belmiro de Azevedo presented the 24 companies which will make up the COTEC Innovation SME Network.

The president of the SONAE group explained this plan of action within the context of COTEC, which aims to promote a culture of innovation as the basis of business competitiveness. It aims to stimulate innovation across all agents involved in innovation at a national level, orient strategic decisions in this field and bring together the supply and demand for knowledge.
This action is a public recognition of a group of SMEs which, through their innovative attitude and activity, constitute examples of wealth creation for the country. It also aims to promote cooperation between COTEC associates and SMEs within the network, promoting mutual benefits between the parties.

In order to become members of the network, each company had to present an application to the evaluations committee constituted specially for this purpose. Each application was judged on various points, among which: innovation culture, innovation competencies, networking and specific results linked to innovation. For companies to remain part of the network they will have to undergo regular evaluation.

COTEC Portugal is a non-profit business organisation whose mission is to promote the increased competitiveness of companies located in Portugal, through development and dissemination of a culture and practice of innovation, as well as knowledge at a national level.
Mr. Fernando Moreira, President of the Management Board of Tecmic, founding member of the company in 1988, received the COTEC Innovation SME Network award on behalf of the company.

Mr. Fernando Moreira, President of Tecmic’s Management Board, receives the COTEC Innovation SME Network award.

Tecmic – Tecnologias de Microelectrónica, SA, was founded in 1988 and belongs to the AITEC group, one of the largest IT groups in Portugal. Currently the company develops solutions for fleet management (XTraN), remote equipment management (SIMOR), access management (Siga) and management of waste collection containers (Ecogest).

XTraN is Tecmic’s best known product, whose various solutions allow management of all types of fleets: goods haulage, taxis, waste collection, secure transport and assistance services (XTraN), passenger transport (XTraN Passenger), and Security and Emergency Services (XTraN Enforcement). Tecmic is the market leader in the implementation of on-board IT systems, with clients from all economic activity sectors. By means of information transmitted from vehicles, using any available communications medium (such as GSM, GPRS, Trunking, TETRA, Analog PMR, Standard-C), back-office systems may be fed with valuable data allowing optimisation of operations.