Professional Opportunities and Prototyping

Professional Opportunities: what can I prototype?

Building a connection with the labour market during your PhD is an important part of your career.

Creating professional opportunities in a controlled and safe environment is one of our main objectives. This is the space to learn, experiment and prototype, to define your interests and career plan and to build a useful career network for your professional future.

Explore the opportunities in the two-level menus below: "Create your opportunities" and “Seize the opportunities”.

1. CREATE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES

The U.Porto has a lot to offer when it comes to entrepreneurship opportunities. Here you can find some of the initiatives U.Porto Inovação and UPTEC have for you - a perfect place to start developing your entrepreneur skills and to make useful contacts for your professional future!

STAY TUNED FOR THE OPENING OF COMPETITIONS ON THE WEBSITES AND SOCIAL NETWORKS OF THE SERVICES!

U.Porto Inovação

iUP25K - University of Porto's business ideas competition, an initiative to raise awareness and encourage entrepreneurship and the creation of new companies based on knowledge exploration and innovation processes. The iUP25k finalist teams take part in the BIP Ignition program, which is an ideation program aimed at exploring the potential of existing knowledge at the University and initiating the validation and development of technology-based and innovative ideas.
BIP Acceleration – This is a program to accelerate projects to make the most of the University of Porto's research results, through value creation activities that can result in licence or cooperation agreements, research and innovation projects in consortium or the creation of spin-off companies.

UPTEC

Escola de Startups para Investigadores: one-week program aimed at Master's and PhD students with content on validating business models, protecting intellectual property and pitching.
ClimateLaunchpad: global competition for business ideas linked to climate, environmental sustainability and the blue economy. The program was designed by Climate-KIC and UPTEC is responsible for the Portuguese edition.
BluAct: competition for business ideas linked to the blue economy, promoted by the Matosinhos City Council.
BfK INNOV@Rise: acceleration program for knowledge-intensive projects, with 3 regional editions (North, Center and Alentejo) designed by ANI - National Innovation Agency, in which UPTEC was responsible for implementation.

2. SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITIES

Would you like to meet different professionals and find out about their career trajectory? Visit a particular company or research centre? Or collaborate with an external organisation on your research project?

Through Connecting you can explore the different experiences you can prototype with the following companies and institutions!

Note: to check out the offers, you must register on Connecting with your LinkedIn profile or e-mail address. Once you've been accepted by the U.Porto team, look for the Opportunities menu and explore the offers.

Find out below about the companies and organisations available to create solutions with you!

UP Doctoral Careers is an initiative stemming from the PhD Career Design project, initiated in 2021. It involved a technical team comprising members from various units within the University of Porto, including the Talent and Career Centre, Work Psychology Consulting Service, FEUPs Talent Unit, ICBAS Student Support, Employability and Alumni Office, I3S, and the Teaching and Learning Laboratory. Additionally, it was supported by the Portuguese funding "Skills for a Next Generation U.Porto" (Upskilling U.Porto) under POCH-I2-2022-01 Post Covid Competition - Skills for the Future in Higher Education”. Now, it is run by contributions from representatives of U.Porto's Organic Units, Research Centers, PhD candidates, holders, advisors, course directors, companies, and institutions. Furthermore, it is supported by the EUGLOH network and the DocTalent4EU project.