Founder & CEO of KLUGIT energetic solutions, a Portuguese project that participated in the last edition of Cleantech Camp
Profile
From Portugal, he leads KLUGIT, one of the three finalist projects of the Cleantech Camp 2018 edition. He studied Business Management and took a master’s degree in business and worked for one year in Deloitte. He enrolled in the international program InovContacto offered by the Portuguese government and had to move to England. His professional career continued in a company dedicated to software and, later, in Bosch, a company in which he has worked for the last 10 years and in which he discovered his passion for the creation and development of new products. His interest in entrepreneurship has motivated Bosch to grant him permission to develop and dedicate himself exclusively to KLUGIT.
Explain briefly what your project consists and by whom it’s integrated
Currently, we are two. People usually have electric water tanks in their homes to heat it. Our project consists of the creation of smart plugs for water tanks that minimize energy consumption. From Klugit we solved a fundamental problem; families can stop wasting a large amount of energy by heating the water. Our smart product connects to the water tank and learns the person’s routine to only warm it when it is really necessary.
How do you value your experience at Cleantech Camp last year?
It was a great experience, especially for me, since I had no experience in undertaking projects. We loved doing workshops because they gave us a lot of value and were the basis for us to think like entrepreneurs.
How has the project developed since then? How have you evolved?
Of all the projects that participate in Cleantech Camp, Klugit obtained the third place, although, in comparison with the Portuguese projects, we were in the first position. In addition, Innoenergy invited us to sign up for the acceleration program and got us to inject funding. In the course of this year, Klugit has advanced a lot. We are currently developing the first functional prototypes to prepare the launch of the product to the market.
What expectations do you have with your project in the short and medium term?
In the short term, we want to create a functional prototype that serves as a sample for install. In the medium term, we want to have this prototype ready for the market and appear on the first page of a crowdfunding campaign.
Finally, what advice would you give to people who are following this year Cleantech Camp?
They should be aware and informed about the entire program and predisposed to be advised. In addition, I would tell them to try to integrate their idea to a very digitized and novel terrain, how artificial intelligence could be.