Do you like the idea of going into a store, choosing your products, and taking them without having to go through the checkout? This project will make that your everyday experience.
The PT Smart Retail consortium, led by the startup Sensei and in which CATÓLICA-LISBON participates with a research team led by Professor Maria Estarreja and Professor Filipe Santos, was approved by the Comissão de Coordenação das Agendas (PRR).
Maria Estarreja met with the co-founder of Sensei, Joana Rafael a couple of years inviting her to share Sensei innovative ideas at the CATÓLICA-LISBON executive programs. Since both worked in the retail area, Joana at the industry and Maria currently at the academia after more than two decades in the industry, it was clear that linking these two worlds could leverage their goals to bring innovation into the retail sector.
Maria Estarreja was able to bring the case study of the innovative solutions created by Sensei to the classroom, showing the retail labs to the students and promoting several talks with Joana Rafael about her work and vision for the sector. On the other hand, Joana Rafael also saw added value in the partnership with the CATÓLICA-LISBON Business and Economics Research Unit (CUBE) through the knowledge transfer from the academia to the industry, in particular with the Center for Consumer Well-Being and Retail Innovation (CORE) in which Maria Estarreja is the executive director.
So once the Sensei started to write a new project and designing the consortium of the PT Smart Retail, CORE was the immediate choice to partner to conduct research activities.
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“It was an honor to have been invited to join a consortium with institutions that are so relevant to our society. This is also due to the outstanding research that is carried out by CATÓLICA LISBON and to the purpose of the CORE center which was completely aligned with what Sensei was looking for, a partner capable of developing research and innovation in the retail sector.” – Maria Estarreja |
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The Smart Retail PRR Consortium brings together 16 Companies and 6 Non-Business Entities from the Scientific and Technological System, aiming to create value for operators of the retail formats of the future, supported by digital solutions that capitalize on the information collected in store by computer vision technology, artificial intelligence, and sensor fusion. In this way, the consortium brings together entities in the various stages of the retail sector's value chain, including technology providers and technological components, industrial partners, R&D partners, retail operators and technological recipients, making the initiative to develop a new holistic ecosystem of autonomous and intelligent solutions for selling and interacting with end consumers, capable of being replicated in different physical retail contexts, allowing consumers to have a seamless experience and access to an increasingly digital economy.
Within the scope of the consortium, the CORE research team will support research in data analytics and information systems, developing scientific papers, case studies and promoting dissemination events that can impact stakeholders and support more efficient decision-making and the acquisition of new insights on users.
The project will achieve its results by the end of December 31, 2025 and promises to revolutionize the way we shop by extending the Sensei technology to other locations beyond the Continente and Galp Labs and create more innovate and disruptive formats.
Written by Daniela Guerra, Science Communicator at CUBE