Situated 20 minutes from the center of Lisbon, in the middle of an office building, a transforming project is being born. From the outside, it looks like some kind of an average showroom, but inside it’s a catalyst for experimentation and creativity: “Every person who comes into the room leaves with a different concept,” says João Queiroz. “This room is much bigger than its walls.”
Those walls look like circuit boards — adorned with brightly colored cables that are plugged into black boxes and connected to interactive monitors. Containing the latest in Programmable Controllers, Variable Speed Drives, RFID and Vision solutions, IoT sensors, and 3D printers, the i-Experience Center is packed with state-of-the-art equipment. “We invite all sort of entities to join us, from universities to customers, starts-up, software houses, you name it. Old partners or new partners, it doesn’t matter. We just want to aggregate value, co-create solutions and support the digital transformation of the Portuguese industrial market,” João says.
From offering scholarships to students to honing the latest technology for potential partners, the i-Experience Center was inaugurated in February 2018 and is a space where ideas are generated: “It gets us much closer to the customers and trends that are changing the world,” says João.
How the i-Experience Center works
In the first 12 months since it opened, the i-Experience Center has played host to hundreds of people. “The center is now beginning its certification process as a digital accelerator for start-ups within the national Network of Incubators and Accelerators,” João explains. One example project being run is a partnership with the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, which is helping students make race cars that run off electric batteries: “Our design and engineering teams work together with students to prototype their ideas and 3D-print the aerodynamic elements that can increase a car’s stability and efficiency on the circuit.”
The center supports the development of projects designed to drive forward digitalization in Portugal and when management was looking for the right person to oversee the operation, it was clear João was the man for the job. As a Digital Enterprise Coordinator, he wears many hats — something that gives him a unique vantage point when it comes to understanding and collaborating with Siemens’ many markets, departments, and projects. It’s João’s ability to see how these strands overlap and interact that enables him to unlock their hidden potential.
“We leverage these opportunities,” he explains. “And in return we get challenges, we get to understand requirements, we get new resources and manpower. And more, we are open to new ideas and business models every single day,” says João.
Always one step ahead, the i-Experience Center tries to answer questions that have never previously been posed — meaning its participants are constantly venturing into the unknown. “The center was created following our participation in the Portuguese government strategic initiative Indústria 4.0, as a direct measure to support the Portuguese industry’s quest for technical knowledge and guide them through the digital transformation process. During the meetings we took part in, we were asked several times about technical models or laboratories that could help companies understand the value of cloud technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT) or virtual simulations. The i-Experience Center was our answer.”
Supporting communication and collaboration
Catering to different skill sets, needs, and demands mean the center has to be as flexible as possible. João explains there are no set schedules or plans, the only thing they can do is listen and provide technical grounds to grow from: “We make sure everyone has access to the right equipment and resources.”
Starting out on the shop floor of an electronics workshop, João has been involved with a number of innovative technologies. “I began in telematics as a product manager for sensors, where I had to work with a lot of different elements to get the right type of data,” he says. Later, focusing on safety technology, he also managed a range of projects that ensured humans were being safeguarded by technology before moving onto radio identification systems (RFID) and working on contactless technology when it was still in its infancy. During his career, he also has experienced multiple account management, technical sales, and other project-oriented roles within the automation, communication and low-powered voltage segments, meaning aggregation has been at the heart of everything he does.
João could always see how these groundbreaking projects could be used to make our lives simpler, smarter, and more efficient. And, no matter if working on large-scale or small industrial projects, he could see the potential for further developing everyday tasks with new business or technological approaches.
Changing mindsets
On paper, it might seem like João has had several different careers, but when you take a step back the thread that connects all his roles is an ability to find hidden connections between needs, value, and technological capabilities. “Take energy, mobility, or the IoT — they all rely on sensors,” he says. “No matter the segment I addressed at the time I always went beyond my roles to try and find out how we could create added value for our customers.”
João began his career as a service technician in a consumer electronics company, and noticed that no one around really had the skill set that was required to understand and fix microprocessor circuit boards: “You needed very special tools to diagnose and repair things like that, so I learned and trained myself to succeed in it.” From there, he was invited to train other technicians and manage different Service Centers.
At this point, his role shifted toward using sensors to reveal important insights. “Every truck has sensors that read speed, brake usage, and fuel consumption, therefore we should be able to understand the behavior of the driver,” he says. “It’s important to see if the person behind the wheel is getting enough rest and isn’t putting other drivers at risk.” His team began using data from existing sensors to run diagnostics and analyze driver efficiency helping companies get a clearer understanding of how their assets were being used in the field. Before long, he was an ambassador for harnessing this new technology on a broader scale of fleets, locally or remotely.
João’s commitment to going above and beyond comes from his ownership mentality: “I treat this as if it were my own company. Because that way I know I’ll always do the best that I can,” he says.
The i-Experience Center might have started as a single room, but it’s already gone way beyond that. It’s a venture that has expanded to different Siemens offices and the local university campus: “Not only are we changing the mindset in Siemens, we’re also changing the mindset and challenging the openness of the market. It’s like dropping a stone on water. It’s having an effect now, but it will also continue over time.”
João Queiroz is a Digital Enterprise Coordinator and is in charge of developing Digital Transformation strategies for Siemens Industrial customers in Portugal. He has been working in various industries in an advisory role for new technologies integration, change management, and new business models development. He lives in Portugal with his wife and children. Find out more about working at Siemens.
