Gonçalo Quadros is a University of Coimbra 2019 Award
The co-founder and CEO of technology company Critical Software, Gonçalo Quadros, was honoured today with the 2019 University of Coimbra Prize, announced the Reitor João Gabriel Silva.
Gonçalo Quadros was one of the founders of Critical Software, a technology company based in Coimbra, with subsidiaries in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Brazil, among other countries.
Graduated in electrotechnical engineering, Gonçalo Quadros worked in the industry before obtaining a doctorate in 2002 in computer science and computer networks, at the University of Coimbra, where he was also a professor.
The name of Gonçalo Quadros “was unanimously approved” by the jury constituted for this distinction, which considers that the co-founder of Critical Software “represents and has represented over the years what the University should do in the current times: Use advanced knowledge to the development of society, “said João Gabriel Silva, during the announcement of the winner of the award, which took place today at the University of Coimbra (UC).
For the UC Rector, Critical Software, to which Gonçalo Quadros “dedicated his life“, has a position “of absolute prominence“, either at the level of the creation of qualified employment or the recognition of institutions of “enormous international relevance” namely the US space agency NASA, the Chinese space agency or the German automobile manufacturer BMW – all entities with which the Portuguese technology works.
“In addition, it has had a policy of effectively promoting a more harmonious development of the territory,” by creating company delegations in cities in the interior, such as Vila Real, Viseu or Tomar, “which is not usual in this Portuguese world every time. more hyper-concentrated, “said João Gabriel Silva, who was a professor of Gonçalo Quadros and supervisor of his master’s thesis.
The rector of the University of Coimbra also noted that “one of the clichés of the University of Coimbra is that it is a time-stopped institution. Critical is one of many demonstrations that this does not correspond to any reality,” being the largest ‘spin-off of that institution of higher education.
Gonçalo Quadros was distinguished in 2006 by the President of the Republic with the Order of Merit Grande-Official, having already received other awards such as the INSEAD Entrepreneurship Award, the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by the Portuguese delegation of Ernst & Young and the Personality Award of the Year 2012 by the Association for the Promotion and Development of the Information Society.
Critical Software was born in 1998 in Coimbra, a company specialized in services to support critical systems oriented to the security and business of companies, which has worked in sectors such as automobile, aeronautics, space or defence.
Between 2005 and 2012, Gonçalo Quadros was CEO of Critical Software, having returned to that position in 2014.
The University of Coimbra Prize, worth 25 thousand euros, distinguishes a personality of Portuguese nationality who has been affirmed by a particularly relevant and innovative intervention in the areas of culture or science.
The award, established in 2004, sponsored by Santander Totta bank and supported by Jornal de Notícias, has distinguished gastronomic critic José Quitério, the former rector of the University of Lisbon Sampaio da Nóvoa, filmmaker Pedro Costa, musician and composer António Pinho Vargas , the scientist Maria de Sousa, the chemistry professor Adélio Mendes and the plastic artist Julião Sarmento, among other names.
The award for this year’s edition is delivered on March 1, during the solemn commemoration of the anniversary of the University of Coimbra.