In March 2025, the AIGODS project reached a significant operational milestone with the appointment of Diogo Santos Costa to lead the project's technical execution. His integration marks the start of the critical data acquisition and preprocessing phases, which are fundamental to building the intelligent systems required by the IVDP.

Diogo brings a specialized academic background to the project, holding an M.S. in Geographic Information Science and Systems (Geospatial Data Science) from NOVA Information Management School. On 5 February 2025, he successfully defended his master’s thesis, which introduced an innovative methodology for analysing complex spatial patterns.

His research combined Geographical Random Forest (PyGRF), a spatially explicit machine learning model, with Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR) to reveal local statistical relationships at multiple scales. This expertise in GeoAI and advanced spatial modelling is directly transferable to AIGODS, where he oversees the entire technical lifecycle, from the ingestion of heterogeneous satellite and climate data to the development of deep learning models for vineyard identification and yield forecasting.

With a background in Technologies and Municipal Management from ISEL alongside his specialized Master's from NOVA IMS, Diogo possesses a unique multidisciplinary profile. This combination provides the technical mastery and organisational discipline required to manage the unique challenges of the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR), a mountainous and highly heterogeneous territory featuring more than 104,000 individual vineyard parcels.

Beyond pure development, he leads the preparation of scientific articles and technical documentation, ensuring that the project's innovations are recorded with the rigour required for future institutional transfer to the IVDP.

The Principal Investigator, André Barriguinha, highlighted the strategic importance of this appointment:

"Diogo’s integration was a strategic step for the project. His unique ability to combine technical mastery in advanced spatial modelling with strong organisational discipline is exactly what we required to navigate the immense orographic and administrative complexity of the Douro".