KEEP SOLUTIONS’s mission is to provide information management and preservation services. The company started its activity in 2008, having acquired its status of academical spin-off from the University of Minho, for being a business initiative with strong bonds of cooperation with the research centres and departments of this university.
KEEP SOLUTIONS provides a wide set of products and services that support the creation of archives, libraries and museums. Its main services are focused on the development and implementation of information systems, consultancy, research and related services. Its main clients are located in the public sector, in the heritage and educational areas. Among these are national archives, museums, military institutions, local government, academical institutions and foundations.
KEEP SOLUTIONS was born from an R&D platform and it remains active in the production of scientific knowledge, having collaborated in research projects with international institutions such as the Technical University of Vienna, the Austrian Institute of Technology, the Microsoft Research, the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Manchester, the Pierre and Marie Curie University, the British Library, the Austrian National Library, the National Library of Denmark, JISC, among others.
Its staff, although small in number, contains elements with a high academic degree (3 doctorates, 6+ masters). The relationship between the company and the University of Minho remains active. Every year KEEP SOLUTIONS mentors several master’s projects of this university being recently awarded by the School of Engineering with the “Friendly Company” award for its continued support on teaching and research projects.
KEEP SOLUTIONS maintains a leading position in the Portuguese market in the field of archival software, supporting the entire network of regional archives, various ministries, all branches of the armed forces, municipalities, among other renowned institutions. KEEP SOLUTIONS also provides services to several universities, institutes, museums and libraries. It developed the first national open access information portals: for archives – Portal Português de Arquivos – and for scientific material – Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP), thus contributing to an improvement of national scientific research activities.
The dedication, capacity and quality of KEEP SOLUTIONS’ scientific contribution is internationally recognised, as evidenced by the international research projects in which the company has been participating.
In 2011, the SCAPE project (SCAlable Preservation Environments) was initiated, a project that focused on the digital preservation of large volumes of information. The project consortium included entities such as the British Library, the National Libraries of Netherlands, Austria and Denmark. Universities of Manchester, Berlin, Vienna and Paris. The only industrial partners of this consortium were ExLibris, Microsoft Research and KEEP SOLUTIONS.
In 2012, the project 4C (Collaboration to Clarify the Costs of Curation) was approved, focusing on the research of cost models for digital preservation. This project had partners such as Portuguese INESC; the National Library of Germany; Universities of Glasgow, Essex and Edinburgh; the National Archives of Denmark; the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC); among others.
In 2014, the E-ARK project (European Archival Records and Knowledge Preservation) was initiated with the main objective of developing European specifications for submission, archiving and dissemination packages in the context of digital repositories (OAIS). This project’s participants included institutions such as the DLM Forum, University of Brighton, National Archives of Slovenia, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, among others.
The company’s international exposure has led to the inevitable expansion of cross-border business. The European market and PALOP constitute already a considerable source of revenue, reaching the 30% mark of the overall annual income.
KEEP SOLUTIONS distinguishes itself in the market for the innovation and quality of its services, and by always favouring research and innovation as pillars for socio-economic growth. The contribution to Open Source projects and the permanent contribution to Open Access to scientific information are perhaps the most relevant manifestations of its responsible posture towards society. However, the company is not limited to these initiatives. KEEP promotes the creation of educational partnerships by giving free access to university students to all its products and services. It steadily sponsors scientific, cultural and professional events, financially supports sporting initiatives, etc.
The work at KEEP is characterized by cooperation and mutual help. The management is fundamentally horizontal, and the strategic decisions are taken jointly by the administration and all staff members. We offer to our employees working conditions that promote the harmony in the relationship between work and their personal and familiar life; An example of this is the implementation of a flexible working hours system, health insurance and distribution of profits by the employees based on the organization’s overall success.