Spin-offs turn INESC-ID research into companies. Nine have been created so far, in fields such as microelectronics, speech processing, and genetic testing.
Turning a research result into a company means securing intellectual property, finding funding, and building a route to market. Our Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship Office (KTO) supports this process, from protecting research results to connecting researchers with the innovation ecosystem.
Testwaves
Founded in late 2023, Testwaves builds tools that automate quality testing for video games using AI. Its testing agents play and replay games without requiring any integration into the game’s code, running continuous test coverage across the development cycle as complexity grows. This runs without adding to the QA team’s workload.
Neural Shift
Founded in 2021 by INESC-ID and Instituto Superior Técnico researchers, NeuralShift builds AI products for companies’ automation needs. It combines computer vision, natural language processing, and sequential decision-making models to handle complex tasks such as package sorting, damage identification, and document processing.
HeartGenetics
Founded in 2013, HeartGenetics works in pharmacogenetics, cardiovascular genetics, and wellbeing. Its methodology combines a DNA microchip platform for genetic testing, based on the iPLEX MassArray system, with algorithms that process and integrate genetic, clinical, and health data. The company was acquired by the Impact Lab group in 2020 and continues to operate under its own name.
Magnomics
Founded in 2013, Magnomics developed portable in-vitro molecular diagnostic devices: a lab on a chip. Its technology, transferred from INESC-ID and INESC-MN, used on-chip DNA extraction, amplification, and magnetic detection to identify bacteria and antibiotic resistance from a single sample. The approach had applications in human and animal health, food safety, and defence, starting with bovine mastitis in dairy cattle.
SiliconGate
Founded in 2008, SiliconGate designs analog and mixed-signal chips. It develops and licenses high-performance power management blocks, key elements in mobile equipment and system-on-chip designs. The company combined senior industry designers with the research expertise of an INESC-ID group, and now runs a team split between Lisbon and Porto. It is a certified IP provider within the TSMC ecosystem.
Voice Interaction
Founded in 2008 by researchers from INESC-ID’s Spoken Language Systems Lab, VoiceInteraction develops speech processing technology in-house. Its work is based on speech recognition and speech synthesis, powered by its Audimus engine, applied to live captioning, transcription, media monitoring, and speech analytics across broadcast, public sector, healthcare, and contact centre environments.
petsys
PETsys was established in 2008 to bring to market PET (positron emission tomography) technology for mammography, developed in a research project begun in 2003. Its patented scanner technology supported early cancer detection at higher resolution and sensitivity than standard devices. The company continues today as PETsys Electronics, developing gamma-ray detector technology for the next generation of PET scanners.
NWC Network Concept
Founded in 2008, NWC Network Concept grew out of a joint Instituto Superior Técnico and INESC-ID project to develop Kelius, a multi-service software platform. Kelius brings together internet, video surveillance, television, and telephone for home and professional settings, controlled through a single interface. The underlying methods are patented.
