"Your Excellency the Minister for Territorial Cohesion, Ms Ana Abrunhosa
Mr. Director, Prof. Miguel de Castro Neto
President of the Board of the Institute, Prof. Luís Teles Dias
Chairman of the Scientific Board, Prof. Pedro Simões Coelho
Chair of the Pedagogic Council, Prof. Manuela Aparício
Ladies and Gentlemen Members of the Rectoral Team
Directors of the Organic Units of NOVA
Mrs Constança Rodrigues, President of the NOVA-IMS Students Association and in her all the students of NOVA IMS
Dear Representatives of the Nova IMS Partners Institutions
Ladies and Gentlemen Professors
Ladies and Gentlemen
Welcome to Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, in this very special occasion that is the celebration of the 33 years of Nova Information Managment School (NOVA IMS). Today is a day of celebration and we have many reasons to celebrate.
I will start by highlighting the excellent public service that NOVA IMS has been providing to the country and to society for more than 30 years, fulfilling in an exemplary way the mission of this University: to serve society through knowledge. And IMS has done so in an innovative way and with ever increasing excellence.
Innovative, right from the start, in the purpose behind the creation of the then ISEGI (Institute of Statistics and Information Management): to respond to the shortage of qualified senior staff in the area of management and information technologies. An unprecedented investment at the time, which proved to be a success, as proven by the high level of employability of the senior staff trained here.
Innovative, too, in the nature of the scientific area it chose: the interface and interaction between data and management. Data, which in the beginning were markedly statistical and now also have a great focus on big data; management, whose scope has been widening, given
the growing prevalence of data, now involving public and private institutions and their processes, to the extent that these depend on data.
Innovative, finally, in the way it conceives the implementation of its mission, guided by the motto "from data to value" and materialised in a training portfolio aimed at the future, in a research agenda with frontier topics for the area and in an innovation agenda with great impact on the development of the institutions with which it collaborates.
And it is in this context that it is important to consider the growing excellence of the performance of NOVA IMS. I share, then, some facts and figures.
In terms of Teaching
- The demand for the Degree in Information Management is in 1st place in this area, nationally, in the last 5 years.
- And the demand for the Degree in Systems and Technologies has been in 1st place nationally for the last 8 years.
- The Degree in Data Science, which has only been in operation for 2 years, but in this short period of time has reached 2nd place in demand at a national level and 1st in Lisbon.
- If we now consider master's degrees, the School has two world number one master's degrees according to Eduniversal's ranking, one in Information Management and another in Data Science and Advanced Analytics, and has two others very well placed, along with three post-graduate degrees.
- It is also very relevant to note that about a third of the students enrolled in degree courses are foreigners, which shows the international profile of the school.
In terms of Research,
- In the last 3 years, NOVA IMS has produced annually about 160 publications in internationally indexed journals, with an impact that is 91% above the
world average for the area, which is impressive. And 48% of the publications are internationally co-authored.
- 22% of these publications are in the Top10% of the most cited worldwide and about one-third are published in journals that belong to the Top10% of the most cited worldwide in their respective areas.
- Since the beginning of 2021 and until now, 6 new R&D projects have been raised with international funding, in the global amount of almost 3 million euros and at the national level 5 more projects have been raised, totalling more than 1 million euros of funding.
- I also leave here a very special note of congratulations to Professors Tiago Oliveira, Paulo Rita, Aleš Popovič , Fernando Bação, Mauro Castelli, Manuela Aparício, Pedro Cabral, Leonardo Vanneschi and Jorge Miguel Bravo, who were recognised for the impact of their research throughout 2021, by the World's Top 2% Scientists List drawn up by Stanford University. Professor Tiago Oliveira is also on the restricted list of the most quoted researchers in the world, recently published by Clarivate, being one of the 20 researchers in Portugal on this list.
And, in terms of the connection of NOVA IMS to Society:
- IMS originated a spin-off formally recognized as a spin-off from NOVA, BilD Analytics, which employs more than 50 people and was recently acquired by a large British company, Ascent.
- IMS also has several alumni with successful companies, such as YData.
And in 2021, IMS submitted its first international patent, which is sure to be the first of many.
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This performance of excellence of NOVA IMS has only been possible to achieve thanks to the value and dedication of all those who are part of this great school: teachers, researchers, students, and staff, without forgetting, of course, its alumni.
Therefore, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for dignifying this institution and, by doing so, honouring the name of Universidade NOVA. Thank you all! I take this opportunity to wish you all Happy Holidays and a great 2023.
What are, then, the great challenges that, in the Rector's opinion, are faced by IMS to continue to ensure the excellence of its activity?
I will highlight five:
In teaching, the strengthening of internationalisation, either through the increase of international students and teachers, where the IMS is already an example within NOVA or now by the expansion of the formative offer outside Portugal, at the NOVA campus in Cairo, where the IMS is one of the three NOVA schools present.
In research, the focus is on the more than fair classification given to MagIC by FC&T, from very good to excellent, and on the increase of international funding, namely through the participation in projects within the scope of the Horizon Europe programme.
In the 3rd mission: the regular implementation of incubation initiatives spin-offs from NOVA resulting from ideas born in IMS (that allow to repeat the success of BilD Analytics), and the acceleration of start-ups in the IMS intervention areas with external partners.
The 4th challenge is that of internal collaboration. Today the big challenges of the knowledge agenda are very complex. This complexity involves interdisciplinary collaboration. Data and data management are critical elements in solving many of these challenges. The other Schools of NOVA need the IMS reciprocally. The path of collaboration is increasingly being
travelled within our university and it will be a critical condition for NOVA's success in the future.
The 5th and last challenge are more transversal and more difficult. Getting new facilities to accomplish all this in the best possible conditions.
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I must praise the work developed in the last 4 years by the previous direction, led by Prof. Pedro Saraiva, with whom NOVA continues to count on, with his dedication and competence, now as part of the Rectoral Team.
And, naturally, I cannot finish without addressing some brief words to the new Director, Prof. Miguel de Castro Neto. Firstly, to congratulate him for having taken on this challenging commitment, and to encourage him to continue developing the academic project of this school, with equal or greater excellence, a project that, as we have seen, is one of growth, innovation and making a difference in society. Then to tell you that I am sure
that his vast experience, vision and boldness will be an enormous asset to IMS. Finally, to reiterate that NOVA University will be here to support you and your School in whatever is necessary, namely, but not exclusively, regarding the challenge of the new facilities, where there are new and important developments, that I am already following and supporting.
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NOVA IMS is today a school not very big in size, but very big in talent and success. And it is a pride for NOVA University. Congratulations to NOVA IMS! Thank you very much"
