Jorge Bento

Founded and led PAIRPOINT, a pioneering joint venture between Vodafone and Sumitomo Corporation. Pairpoint is a global technology company building the world’s largest Economy of Things (EoT) ecosystem, enabling machines, vehicles, and devices to identify, connect, and transact securely in real time. The platform leverages automation, tamper-proof logging, and quantum-resistant cryptography to ensure trusted movement of goods and data. Secured €90 million in investment to drive technology development, market expansion, and strategic partnerships with global leaders such as Mastercard and IBM. Built and guided a high-performing multidisciplinary team while overseeing product innovation, operational delivery, financial performance and commercial execution. Headquartered in the UK with offices in London, Tokyo and Lisbon, drove Pairpoint’s evolution to a market leader at the intersection of IoT, security, blockchain, and digital payments.

• Developed strategic plans to align organizational goals with market trends.
• Collaborated with stakeholders to identify opportunities for growth and innovation.
• Cultivated relationships with partners to expand business networks and resources.
• Fostered a culture of transparency, accountability, forward-thinking and performance oriented throughout the organization.

Spearheaded the creation and implementation of a robust business innovation framework designed to replicate a startup incubator culture at scale within a large corporate environment. Charged with generating new value and business opportunities by exploring strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, frontier technologies, and novel platform and monetization models. Managed an annual investment budget of €30 million dedicated to innovation and business incubation.

Successfully transformed two innovative platforms into standalone business units and joint ventures:

• STEP: A real-time message broadcast platform enhancing driving assistance and road hazard detection.
• PAIRPOINT: A global technology company building the world’s largest Economy of Things (EoT) ecosystem.

This role emphasized entrepreneurship within the corporation, fostering agile experimentation, rapid iteration, and scalable growth while aligning initiatives with overarching corporate objective

Led the ideation, development, and delivery of Vodafone IoT’s world-leading Connectivity Platform — a fully distributed IoT Core Network supporting 4G, 5G, NB-IoT, and satellite connectivity. Directed a multidisciplinary team of 300+ product and engineering professionals driving innovation across IoT products and applications for diverse industries including energy, security, agriculture, automotive, and logistics. Oversaw device engineering, specification, IT and support systems development, and forged strategic partnerships to advance Vodafone’s global IoT ecosystem.

Managed an annual €40 million investment in technology and product development, continuously enhancing platform capabilities to support over 250 million connected devices worldwide. Spearheaded initiatives to maintain Vodafone IoT’s leadership in enabling scalable, secure, and end-to-end IoT solutions central to critical industry digital transformation and operational efficiency.

Held senior leadership roles including Director of Products & Services and Director of IT at Vodafone Portugal, leading high-performing teams in network, IT engineering, and product development. Delivered disruptive services driving revenue beyond mobile, launching global platforms such as an IP-based unified communications solution and an IP TV platform with 190+ channels, video on demand, interactive apps, and zero-touch provisioning. Transformed Vodafone’s CRM and Billing system, achieving award-winning improvements in customer engagement and operational efficiency. Led complex digital transformation and systems integration projects, managing strategic planning, vendor relationships, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver scalable, consumer and enterprise-grade solutions.