Siscog

SISCOG | 2026 | 40 years, millions of passengers, hundreds of SISCOGuians, countless stories.
João Pavão Martins:
“Launching an AI company back in 1986 sounds like absolute madness. In reality, throughout most of 1985, Ernesto Morgado and I knocked on company doors trying to sell the concept of AI, only to be viewed as either lunatics or aliens. It wasn't until September that our first real opportunity arose. In an interview with newspaper Expresso, Sperry (then the world’s second-largest computer manufacturer) announced they were going to market the Explorer in Portugal—a Texas Instruments machine dedicated to AI.

Seeing an opportunity, we immediately contacted the Managing Director of Sperry in Portugal, Carlos Coelho, proposing a joint venture: Sperry would market the hardware, and a new company to be formed by Ernesto and myself would develop the software. Carlos, who was about twenty years our senior, took a liking to the "kids"—as he called us—and agreed to go ahead. Following intensive self-training on the Explorer and KEE (the system development software) in England, we prepared a series of seminars for Sperry’s clients, sometimes working in 12-hour shifts, covering the full 24 hours. The seminars were a resounding success. We founded SISCOG using the revenue generated from those seminars. Even so, not a single company showed immediate interest.

We then agreed with Carlos that Sperry and SISCOG would co-finance a free prototype for the first interested clients. TAP Air Portugal stepped forward with a crew scheduling problem. Although the resulting prototype didn't quite convince TAP, it provided SISCOG with a demo for other transport operators. First came CP - Comboios de Portugal, EPE (Portuguese Railways), then Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)—and the rest is history.

Looking back, we weren't mad; we were simply about 20 years ahead of what the market wanted, both in terms of ideas and tools. We were fortunate enough to find NS, an open-minded and highly progressive organisation that believed in us.

However, the history of our success is built on several key pillars: hard work (truly relentless work), perseverance, ethics, seizing every opportunity, building a top-tier team, focusing on product development, and never promising a client more than we can deliver.
This is how SISCOG started and how it operated for nearly forty years.

On SISCOG’s 40th anniversary, I want to thank everyone who helped us along this path and wish the new team, powered by Modaxo and led by Miguel Velosa Rodrigues, a highly prosperous journey ahead, surpassing what was achieved in these first 40 years.
PS: I have often heard it said that the only difference between a madman and a genius is success.”