Rute C. Sofia

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT RUTE C. SOFIA

I work at the intersection of research, technology, and real-world innovation. I lead the Industrial IoT competence field (R&D department) at fortiss, driving applied research and technology transfer for future IIoT internetworked systems. In parallel, I continue to collaborate as an Invited Associate Professor at Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias and as an Associate Researcher at ISTAR, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa — keeping a strong bridge between academic inquiry and industry impact.My career has grown through both environments. I co-founded and led the ULHT COPELABS research unit, where I helped build research capabilities and teams from the ground up. I also co-founded Senception, a startup focused on personal communication platforms, where I learned firsthand how ideas evolve into products and how innovation cycles unfold outside the academic lab. These experiences shaped my understanding of how technology moves from concept to deployment, from prototype to solution.My work focuses on advancing network architectures and protocols, IoT, edge and in-network computing, and intelligent network systems. I have published more than 90 peer-reviewed works and hold 9 patents. I currently serve on the Datacom Industry Association (DIA) board, lead the 6G CONASENSE brainstorming platform, and am part of the WIE Industry Experts Network. I have also served the community in roles such as ACM Europe Councilor (20••••25) and ComSoc N2Women Awards co-chair (20••••22). Throughout my path, I have remained committed not only to pushing technology forward, but also to actively mentoring young researchers — especially women entering engineering and technology fields.Before joining fortiss, I worked across academia and industry, including Senior Researcher roles at Siemens AG and Nokia-Siemens Networks, and academic leadership at COPELABS, INESC TEC. These roles strengthened my technical grounding in wireless, cellular, and fixed networks, and deepened my belief in collaborative innovation.I hold a PhD in Informatics from Universidade de Lisboa (Summa Cum Laude) and was a visiting scholar at Northwestern University and the University of Pennsylvania where I had the privilege of working under Roch Guerin.My mission continues to be the same: to contribute to the evolution of future networked systems, to help ideas become technologies, and to empower people — especially emerging female talent — to shape the next generation of digital innovation.