The Interactive Technologies Institute (formerly known as M-ITI, Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute) is a teaching and research institute of the

Instituto Superior Técnico The Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, also known as Técnico, and stylized TÉCNICO LISBOA; English: ) is the school of engineering and technology of the University of Lisbon. It was founded as an autonomous school in 1911, and was integrated in ...

, which has its headquartered located in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

History

It was formerly a state-run Portuguese

graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

and research institute. It was conceived in 2000, formally integrated as a research group in 2007, and established as an Innovation Institute in 2010. It resulted from a collaborative connection between the

University of Madeira The University of Madeira (''UMa''; , ) is a Portuguese public university, created in 1988 in Funchal, Madeira. The university offers first, second cycle and Doctorate academic degrees in a wide range of fields, in accordance with the Bologna pr ...

Madeira Tecnopolo Madeira Tecnopolo is a science park in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, . ICEC Centre Within the Tecnopolo park is the ICEC Exhibition and Congress Centre, the largest indoor arena on the island. As well as various conferences and exhibitions, includi ...

, and

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. M-ITI has also been a member of the National Associated Laboratory for Robotics and Systems in Engineering and Science (LARSyS) since 2011. Since then, M-ITI became the Interactive Technologies Institute, when the institute moved from the Madeira Islands to be integrated as one of the research units of

. Currently, the Interactive Technologies Institute is located at the Hub Criativo do Beato, where its facilities were inaugurated on October 17 2023, by the Mayor of Lisbon at the time,

Carlos Moedas Carlos Manuel Félix Moedas (born 10 August 1970) is a Portuguese civil engineer, economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (Portugal), Social Democratic Party (PSD), who is the current Mayor of Lisbon. From 2014 until 2019, Moeda ...

Partnership with Carnegie Mellon University

M-ITI operated in the interdisciplinary domain of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), with contributions from the disciplines of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

, and

Design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

. It had a partnership with the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) at Carnegie Mellon University (US), which was founded by computer science pioneers

Allen Newell Allen Newell (March 19, 1927 – July 19, 1992) was an American researcher in computer science and cognitive psychology at the RAND Corporation and at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, Tepper School of Business, and D ...

(Turing Award) and

Herbert A. Simon Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organi ...

(Turing Award and Nobel Prize in Economics). The HCII at Carnegie Mellon is recognized as a worldwide leader in HCI research. M-ITI grew through this collaboration, which was made possible by the Carnegie Mellon - Portugal International Partnership, an initiative conducted by the Portuguese national government that supports collaborative teaching and research between universities in Portugal and Carnegie Mellon University.

Educational programs

*Masters in Computer Sciences *PhD in Informatics Engineering *PhD in Digital Media (new 2015) partnership between FEUP (Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto), FCT-UNL (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa), and the UT (University of Texas) in Austin, US. Program Co-orientation and co-supervision at M-ITI *PhD in Networked Interactive Cyber Physical Systems (NETSyS) (new 2015) – partnership between IST-UL (Instituto Superior Técnico da Universidade de Lisboa) with CMU Portugal (Carnegie Mellon University) and LARSyS. Program Co-orientation and co-supervision at M-ITI *Professional Masters In Human Computer Interaction (MHCI under the Carnegie Mellon , Portugal International Partnership)° *Masters in Entertainment Technology (MET under the Carnegie Mellon , Portugal International Partnership)° * Bridging-Program in Human Aspects of Technology ° These programs were taught partially in Funchal, in University of Madeira – Portugal, and partially in Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA – US.

External evaluation

These have been recognized by several independent evaluation committees, in particular the External Review Committee of the programme composed by Professors Sir John O'Reilly, Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield U. (UK); Luigia Aiello, of Sapienza U. of Roma (Italy); Tariq Durrani, of Strathclyde U. (UK); and Joel Moses, Former Provost of MIT (US).

References

External links

* {{authority control Organisations based in Madeira 2009 establishments in Portugal Educational institutions established in 2009