ARMIS at ECSS 2026: Bringing Academia and Industry Closer Together
From October 26 to 28, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) hosted the 22nd European Informatics Leaders Summit (ECSS 2026), an annual event organized by Informatics Europe and, this year, co-organized by FEUP’s Department of Informatics Engineering.
The event brought together approximately 130 academics, researchers, and industry representatives to discuss topics related to the future of informatics, research, and education in Europe.
Informatics Europe represents the European informatics community and brings together approximately 200 institutions across more than 30 countries, connecting over 50,000 researchers. ECSS is its main annual summit and promotes discussion among representatives from academia, research, and industry.
The 2026 program covered topics including academic strategy, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, ethics, research, and education.
Bringing an Industry Perspective to the Discussion
As a sponsor of ECSS 2026, ARMIS followed the discussions and shared its experience collaborating with academia.
The event provided an opportunity to address the relationship between universities, research centers, and companies from different perspectives. Academia contributes scientific knowledge, research, and R&D, while industry brings concrete challenges, market experience, emerging technologies, and real-world contexts for application.
In this context, ARMIS shared its experience of collaborating with FEUP through ARMIS Lab.
ARMIS Lab: Collaboration with FEUP in Practice
ARMIS Lab results from a partnership between FEUP and ARMIS Group and was created to bring academic education closer to the professional environment.
At the lab, students develop projects with the support of ARMIS mentors, work collaboratively, and engage with challenges related to professional contexts
During the 2025/26 academic year, ARMIS Lab included approximately 30 members across five areas. During this period, students worked on challenges related to Artificial Intelligence, Web Development, Data & Analytics, and Cybersecurity.
Presenting ARMIS Lab at ECSS 2026 provided a concrete example of collaboration between a company and a university and contributed to the discussion on bringing students, researchers, and professionals closer together.
Connecting Research and Application
ARMIS’ participation in ECSS 2026 was part of a broader discussion about the relationship between academia, research, and industry.
Within this context, the ARMIS Lab experience provided an example of a model already in place at FEUP, where students work on projects supported by ARMIS professionals and engage with challenges related to professional environments.
At an event dedicated to the future of informatics in Europe, ARMIS contributed to the discussion by sharing its experience of working in collaboration with FEUP.
