INESC TEC Summer School brings dozens of young people to Porto

Second edition of the Summer School on Artificial Intelligence repeats success

About 30 people from 14 countries travelled to the city of Porto to participate in this school that focused on themes such as RGB-D sensors, algorithms to perform object recognition in images or human-machine interaction. The visum Summer School, which took place between 3 and 10 July, is an initiative promoted by INESC TEC, in collaboration with the University of Porto and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP).    

A look on science and industry

For an entire week, 30 young people from 14 nationalities, between the ages of 24 and 30, travelled to the city of Porto to know more about the use of the fundamental concepts of computer vision and artificial intelligence in real scenarios. After the success of the first edition, organised by INESC TEC in 2013, the goal with the second visum was again to gather master’s students, PhD students, postdoctoral students, industry and academic researchers and professionals interested in computer vision and artificial intelligence.

Considering that there is a gap between the most fundamental concepts of computer vision and their application in real world scenarios, the Summer School wanted to gather both industry members and academics in a single event. The school included sessions on biometric vision systems and intelligent processing techniques to describe and recognise objects in digital images, “a task that is easy for humans, but difficult for machines to perform,” explains Eduardo Pereira, a researcher at INESC TEC’s Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia (CTM) and one of the members of the organising committee.

Computer vision and artificial intelligence in industry

Another theme highlighted at the school was the mapping of information acquired with a Kinect device (movement sensor) in order to print a miniature model in a 3D printer. According to Eduardo Pereira, “3D reconstruction is a very interesting topic and last year we got great feedback on that, and this year was no exception.”

The second edition of visum also stresses the importance and the usefulness of computer vision and artificial intelligence in industry. The school introduced the particular cases of companies Siemens S.A., E-Commerce Sonae MC and Albatroz, which are already using this type of research in their products. For the organising committee, the goal was to show students the markets where they can apply their work and provide a first contact with the business world. According to Eduardo Pereira, “it was important to show participants not only that what they do has practical and commercial applicability, but also the reality of the market.”

Summer School welcomes world renowned experts

The programme of the Summer School included training sessions in fundamental industry and application areas, as well as practical sessions, and a poster session. Focusing on advanced topics in the two fundamental areas of computer vision and artificial intelligence, the Summer School welcomed worldwide renowned experts, such as Cristian Sminchisescu (Lund University, Sweden), Vincent Lepetit (Graz University of Technology, Austria), Thomas Whelan (National University of Maynooth, Ireland) and Russell Beale (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom). And because “Portugal’s role in computer vision and artificial intelligence is becoming more and more important”, according to Eduardo Pereira, the panel of speakers also included prominent Portuguese experts, such as (INESC TEC and FEUP), Hugo Proença (Department of Computer Science, University of Beira Interior) and André Marçal (INESC TEC and Faculty of Science, University of Porto).

“In the specific case of 3D, for example, we had a student that is concluding his PhD but already has an impressive curriculum. This means that with this school we have tried not only to bring professors, but also people who are just starting their careers and are academically relevant, thus promoting a very interesting academic exchange”, Eduardo Pereira explains. The visum Summer School is an initiative promoted by INESC TEC, in collaboration with the University of Porto and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. The School was supported by the Institute of Telecommunications, the Portuguese Association for Pattern Recognition and the CMU Portugal Program. Other than Eduardo Pereira, the organising committee included Jaime Cardoso, Hélder Oliveira (CTM), Ana Rebelo (CTM) and Ricardo Sousa (INEB, University of Porto).

The INESC TEC researchers mentioned in this article are associated with the following partner institutions:  INESC Porto, FEUP, University of Porto.