Maya: Hey everyone! Here's what's on the radar today on AI.pt. Tekever sold AI drones to US Special Operations Command, IPLEXMED won eAwards Portugal with a twenty-minute respiratory test, and Portugal's planning a single licensing code. I'm Maya.

James: And I'm James. Let's get into it.

Maya: So Tekever, the Portuguese drone maker built around AI, confirmed on October twenty-sixth that it sold unmanned aerial systems to US Special Operations Command, USSOCOM. Neither side revealed the value of the deal.

James: Right, Maya, and the mechanism matters here. The sale followed a validation and acceptance trials program, with dedicated training and an extensive flight campaign across multiple sites. The announcement came out of Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Maya: Exactly right, and the systems are modular: an aerial platform, mission-specific payloads, communications gear, and AI-driven software, built for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Tekever cited operational confidentiality on the count, model and configuration.

James: And CEO Ricardo Mendes framed it as a milestone built over time through rigorous trials and open dialogue. Tekever employs more than fifteen hundred people across Portugal, the UK, France, Germany, Estonia, Ukraine and the United States.

Maya: Onto IPLEXMED, James. The Portuguese startup won eAwards Portugal twenty twenty-six on October twenty-seventh, taking the NTT DATA Foundation award. They get ten thousand euros and represent Portugal in the international final, which this year is in Lisbon.

James: That's a strong win, Maya, and the product is the story. NEXAGUARD is a portable platform based on graphene and AI. It identifies more than thirty respiratory pathogens and resistance markers in about twenty minutes, from a non-invasive sputum sample.

Maya: And the point is lab-quality results right where care is given, cutting diagnosis time and speeding clinical decisions. The company says it's clinically validated at technology maturity level TRL six. Five other projects competed for that same award.

James: Now the policy one. Economy Minister Manuel Castro Almeida told the twenty twenty-seven State Budget debate the Government is preparing a licensing code that repeals thirty-seven separate regimes and writes three into a single code.

Maya: Right, James, so today a company may face any of thirty-seven permit rulebooks to set up and operate. Alongside that, the Government will promote AI training for about one hundred thousand workers, plus seven new business hosting areas.

James: Worth flagging though, Maya, that all of this was stated as intent in a budget debate, and the code is still being prepared. He also named a fund of funds for mergers, and reaching the European GDP average by twenty forty-three.

Maya: That's your AI.pt daily brief. Check ai.pt for the full stories.