CINTESIS

What CINTESIS does

CINTESIS - Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias e Serviços de Saúde (Centre for Research in Health Technologies and Services) is a private, multicentric research unit founded in 2004 and headquartered at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), Portugal. It aggregates more than 600 researchers organized into 24 research groups operating across three thematic lines: Preventive Medicine & Societal Challenges, Clinical & Translational Research, and Data Science, Decision & Information Technologies. Its primary institutional client base consists of 46 partner entities — 29 higher education institutions, 12 hospitals and health institutions, and 5 health companies — with research hubs at six Portuguese universities and international collaborations including Imperial College London, Harvard, Aarhus, Sydney, and Brazilian universities USP and UFMG.

The center's core deliverables span six product/service categories: (1) competitive research output funded through FCT, Portugal 2020/COMPETE, and Horizon Europe grants; (2) fee-based professional services in health informatics, health technology assessment, cybersecurity/GDPR consulting, health data science, clinical trial support, and biomedical simulation; (3) advanced training through doctoral programs in Palliative Care, Bioethics, Gerontology, and Health Data Science (HEADS); (4) patented proprietary technologies commercialized through spin-offs (e.g., FASTinov flow cytometry AST delivering susceptibility results in 2 hours vs. the standard 48; IS4Learning virtual patient auscultation simulator; ObsCare obstetrics EHR; m.Carat asthma mobile app; HS.REGISTER IHE-ATNA-compliant healthcare audit system); (5) translational AI research (computer vision for capsule endoscopy and anoscopy, BBAI brain behavior platform, AnyMApp interaction simulator, COVIDLEARNING content platform); and (6) spin-off incubation. Eight spin-off companies are referenced: MyBiome (microbiota therapeutics), IS4H, HealthySystems, VirtualCare, FASTinov, MEDIDA, GLYCO4CLINICS, and DigestAID.

CINTESIS is funded through a hybrid model combining competitive public grants (FCT, Portugal 2020, Horizon 2020/Europe), fee-based research and consulting services, doctoral program tuition, and minority equity/licensing income from spin-offs. Its go-to-market is sales-led and partnership-driven rather than commercial-product-led: relationships are pursued through formal research agreements with universities and hospitals, with project-by-project pricing and a dedicated Innovation & Technology Transfer department supporting spin-off creation. The organization has reported over 300 scientific works published and 21 awards in 2016 alone, and remains actively operating with news and events recorded through December 2024, including the international AI in Digestive Healthcare conference (November 2024).

Name

CINTESIS

Legal name

CINTESIS - Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias e Serviços de Saúde

Website

https://cintesis.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

CINTESIS is a Portuguese private, multicentric research unit at the University of Porto aggregating 600+ researchers across 24 groups, delivering funded health research, AI-driven clinical solutions, advanced doctoral training, and eight commercialized spin-offs in microbiota, antimicrobial testing, simulation, and digital health.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Health Research Services

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAGAAAA

Clinical CROs (Phase I–IV)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Life Science Tools & Services (CRO/CDMO/Lab Services)/Contract Research Organizations (CRO)

Keywords

• Health technology research
• Medical research services
• Clinical trials research
• Health informatics solutions
• Biomedical simulation training

Headquarters

HQ city

Porto

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Competitive Research Funding: CINTESIS generates revenue primarily through competitive national and European research funding programs including Portugal 2020, Horizon 2020, and FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia). Research projects are funded based on competitive grant applications.
2. Research Services: The center provides fee-based research services to healthcare organizations, companies, and institutions including health informatics services, technology assessment, clinical trial support, data science solutions, and cybersecurity consulting. Accredited for Research Services under Vale Oportunidades de Investigação and Vale Indústria 4.0 programs.
3. Spin-off Companies: CINTESIS has created six spin-off companies that commercialize technologies developed through research. These include MyBiome (microbiota therapeutics), IS4H (medical simulation), HealthySystems (health information security), VirtualCare (electronic obstetric records), FASTinov (rapid antimicrobial testing), MEDIDA (digital health apps), and others. Revenue is generated through company growth and technology transfer.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

CINTESIS is a Portuguese health research and development unit that conducts clinical, translational, and applied research across preventive medicine, clinical research, and health data science. It delivers fee-based professional research services (health informatics, health technology assessment, cybersecurity, data science, clinical trial support, biomedical simulation), runs advanced postgraduate education programs, and commercializes research outputs through eight spin-off companies developing medical simulation, electronic health records, microbiota therapeutics, rapid antimicrobial diagnostics, and AI-based digestive healthcare solutions.

Product overview

CINTESIS (Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias e Serviços de Saúde) is a large Research and Development unit at the University of Porto operating as a research center rather than a traditional product company. The organization encompasses seven spin-off companies including MyBiome (microbiota therapeutics), IS4H/IS4Learning (auscultation simulation), HealthySystems/HS.REGISTER (healthcare data security), VirtualCare/ObsCare (obstetrics records), MEDIDA/m.Carat (asthma monitoring), FASTinov (antimicrobial testing), and GLYCO4CLINICS (biomarker research). Research activities are organized into thematic lines and groups including AI4Health, BioData, HIS-EHR, and EvidenS&HTA. CINTESIS also provides professional services in health informatics, technology assessment, cybersecurity, data science, clinical trial support, and biomedical simulation. The center aggregates over 600 researchers across 24 research groups working on three thematic lines focused on preventive medicine, clinical research, and health data science/IT technologies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CINTESIS@RISE: Research unit designation associated with the RISE health research unit consortium

Products and services

• Health Informatics Services Requirements gathering and mockup design for information systems, process and workflow analysis, BPM and enterprise architecture implementation, data quality auditing, system integration, and electronic health record implementation for healthcare organizations.
• Health Technology Assessment Services Impact assessment services for new applications, medications, medical devices, and informatics systems; evaluation of classification and coding system impacts for healthcare decision-makers.
• Cybersecurity Services GDPR compliance support, privacy and security policy development, risk analysis, business continuity planning, authentication mechanisms, and security/usability evaluation of medical applications for healthcare organizations.
• Health Data Science Solutions Research study design, evidence aggregation, database structuring, statistical modeling, machine learning analysis, big data mining, decision support systems, benchmarking, and epidemiological studies for health research.
• Clinical Trial Support Research methodology support, statistical analysis, and information systems for clinical trial design and execution.
• Biomedical Simulation Services Pedagogical strategy development based on biomedical simulation for training and evaluation of health professionals, with focus on low-cost simulators.
• IS4Learning Medical Simulation Platform Medical simulation technology based on virtual patients for teaching and certifying auscultation skills of health students and professionals. Deployed at FMUP and Université Paris Descartes; over 1000 students trained and 30+ workshops delivered.
• FASTinov Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing solution using flow cytometry technology that determines susceptibility phenotype in 2 hours versus 48 hours for standard methods, independent of microbial growth and applicable to a wide panel of microorganisms and antimicrobial drugs.
• ObsCare Electronic Obstetric Records Complete electronic clinical record system supporting obstetrics practice with multiple modules for recording, consulting, and analyzing obstetric care information, backed by Oracle database infrastructure.
• HS.REGISTER Health Information Audit System Unified audit registry technology for healthcare institutions that aggregates heterogeneous event logs from different sources (syslog, log4j, HL7, web server logs), compliant with IHE-ATNA standards and GDPR requirements.
• m.Carat Mobile Health Application Mobile application for patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis to track disease events, medication, CARAT questionnaire results, and synchronize with caratnetwork.org.
• MyBiome Microbiota Therapeutics Microbiota-based therapeutic products and the first production and storage facility in Portugal for fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) solutions.
• DIGEST.AI Digestive Healthcare AI AI solutions for digestive healthcare, particularly in capsule endoscopy and high-resolution anoscopy for early tumor and lesion detection.
• GLYCO4CLINICS Glycosylation Biomarkers Research-oriented company developing new biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis by investigating protein glycosylation alterations in disease contexts.

Quantifiable outcome

• 21 awards received by researchers in 2016, representing 31% increase over previous year
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability10 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Imperial College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational research collaboration with one of the world's leading universities for innovative, interdisciplinary, and clinically relevant research in prevention, diagnosis, management, and treatment in health.
• Aarhus University (Arhus)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational research collaboration for innovative, interdisciplinary clinical research partnerships.
• University of SydneycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational research collaboration for innovative, interdisciplinary clinical research partnerships.
• Harvard UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational research collaboration with one of the world's leading universities for health research innovation.
• University of São Paulo (USP), BrazilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPortuguese-speaking country collaboration with common research projects, particularly in bioethics and clinical research education.
• Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), BrazilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPortuguese-speaking country collaboration with common research projects.
• Rice University (Texas)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partnership for the Doctoral Program in Palliative Care, contributing to collaborative education in palliative care.
• Kent University (UK)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partnership for the Doctoral Program in Palliative Care.
• St Christopher's Hospice (London)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partnership for palliative care education through the Doctoral Program in Palliative Care.
• Federal Council of Medicine (Brazil)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Brazilian medical council for bioethics education, with significant number of Brazilian students in the Bioethics doctoral program.
• IPO Porto (Portuguese Oncology Institute)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the Doctoral Program in Palliative Care.
• INFARMED (National Authority of Medicines)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the Doctoral Program in Palliative Care.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Charles River Laboratories: Large global contract research organization providing clinical and preclinical research services. Comparable as a CRO offering clinical trial support, though CINTESIS operates at a smaller scale and academic alignment.
• IQVIA: Global clinical research services and health data analytics company. Comparable as a clinical CRO and health data science provider, though at vastly larger scale and with a commercial (rather than academic) operating model.

Direct peers

• Instituto Pedro Nunes (IPN): Portuguese non-profit research and technology transfer institute at the University of Coimbra. Comparable as a Portuguese research-to-commercialization intermediary with spin-off incubation, innovation services, and academic partnerships.
• Champalimaud Foundation: Portuguese biomedical research and clinical center. Comparable as a Portuguese research-driven health institution with clinical research, translational science, and international collaborations.
• i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde: Portuguese health research institute (University of Porto) conducting biomedical and translational research. Comparable as a Portuguese university-affiliated health research center with multiple research groups, spin-off creation, and competitive public funding model.
• INESC TEC: Large Portuguese private non-profit research institute operating as a multi-institutional interface between universities and industry. Comparable as a multicentric R&D institution with technology transfer, spin-offs, and contract research services.
• ITQB NOVA - Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica: Portuguese life sciences research institute at NOVA University Lisbon. Comparable as a Portuguese research institution conducting health-adjacent research with doctoral programs and competitive funding.

Regional players

• VHIO - Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology: Spanish oncology research center based in Barcelona. Comparable as a European clinical-translational research institute focused on oncology with similar academic-hospital integration and clinical trial activity.
• INSERM: French national institute for health and medical research. Comparable as a European public health research organization with multi-site structure, competitive funding, and technology transfer mandate.
• IRB Barcelona: Catalan biomedical research institute conducting life sciences research. Comparable as a European research center with peer-reviewed grant funding, doctoral training, and translational research programs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC5k4LxUoVMqYrlbbyOl3vXQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/CINTESIS
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/cintesis
• Xx.com/cintesis_eu

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about CINTESIS