PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ernesto Morgado

Ernesto Morgado is a Portuguese computer scientist and software entrepreneur who applied artificial intelligence to rail planning. He earned engineering and computer science degrees before completing a PhD in artificial intelligence at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1986, then co-founded SISCOG. Its CREWS and TPO systems schedule staff for Dutch and Norwegian railways, and he coauthored later research using SAT and reinforcement learning for public transport timetables. In 2025, he continued as a SISCOG consultant during the company’s transition to Modaxo and joined an Instituto Superior Técnico discussion on AI in urban spaces.

Timeline

  1. 1976–1986

    Engineering and AI degrees

    A Portuguese computer scientist and software entrepreneur, he earns a licentiate degree in mechanical engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico in 1976, an MSc in computer science in 1981, and a PhD in artificial intelligence at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1986.

  2. 1986–1988

    Co-founding SISCOG

    In 1986, he co-founds SISCOG with João Pavão Martins, a company focused on applying artificial intelligence to transport planning. It starts its first railway crew-scheduling prototype for Portuguese Railways in 1988.

  3. 1988–1998

    Associate professor at Técnico

    He helps shape the Computer Science and Engineering degree at Instituto Superior Técnico in 1988, becomes an associate professor there in 1992, and co-founds the department in 1998.

  4. 1997–1998

    CREWS for Dutch Railways

    A CREWS-based system for Dutch Railways wins the AAAI Innovative Application Award in 1997. In 1998, Morgado coauthors a paper describing CREWS_NS, which schedules about 5,000 Dutch Railways workers with AI techniques.

  5. 2000–2003

    TPO in Norway

    The CREWS-based Norwegian Railways system wins the AAAI Innovative Application Award in 2003. A TPO application goes into use in 2000 and schedules 1,800 people at 39 bases across Norway.

  6. 2021

    SAT and reinforcement learning

    He coauthors a 2021 study that applies Boolean satisfiability and reinforcement learning to periodic public transport timetables. The approach combines SAT, reinforcement learning, and multiagent methods on real-world data.

  7. 2025

    Consultant during SISCOG transition

    After SISCOG joins Modaxo in July 2025, he continues to support the company as a consultant during the transition. At an Instituto Superior Técnico discussion in November 2025, he frames how forecasts, disruptions, and variability shape public transport decisions in AI-enabled urban spaces.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

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  1. Ernesto Morgado en.wikipedia.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. SISCOG | About | Optimisation resource scheduling and management software for rail and metro siscog.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. SISCOG joins Modaxo siscog.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Scheduling Train Crews in the Netherlands researchportal.ulisboa.pt. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. TPO: A System for Scheduling and Managing Train Crew in Norway researchportal.ulisboa.pt. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Solving periodic timetabling problems with SAT and machine learning researchportal.ulisboa.pt. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Sinais, luzes e dados em movimento: Técnico debateu inteligência artificial no espaço urbano tecnico.ulisboa.pt. Checked 19 October 2026.