Orlando Ribas Fernandes is a graduate of the Porto Polytechnic School of Technology and Management (ESTG). He is currently CEO of XnFinity, a company that he founded in 2012, involved in development, implementation, consultancy, management and exploration of infrastructures of information systems with the focus on the design of totally innovative software products.
Working on smart retail products since 2012, XnFinity has become known in Portugal for creating PaperVault, a platform that transforms invoices and receipts into digital information. "Recently," he says, "we launched an international partnership with Microsoft (Microsoft Partner Network) to jointly create a shared innovation lab that will focus on artificial intelligence and digital transformation for retail (online and offline). This laboratory will democratize innovation and AI in the retail area."
For Orlando Ribas Fernandes, the laboratory "is a place where retailers can have exclusive access to innovation," which, he argues, will reduce investment risks for the retail industry, both online and offline. Thus, XnFinity in addition to its R&D team will group the startups in a laboratory guaranteeing them access to innovation and platforms where they can test and develop their products using Artificial Intelligence, which will be marketed with retailers.
This laboratory already has a portfolio of solutions, such as customer sentiment analysis, analysis through machine learning and deeplearning, and it is planned to include other partners startup technologies "that will allow the lab to have a complete and unique vision of the future retail."
The lab "will also have a real store - with customers and real purchases - where all laboratory innovations (and startups) will be tested and validated" before being offered to retailers. Although XnFinity is headquartered in Viana do Castelo, the CEO of the Portuguese company guarantees that the decision on the location of this laboratory "is not yet closed", but added that its creation "will give rise to about 40 new jobs highly specialized (with PhD or MA in AI or similar) ".
