The Municipality of Braga, in partnership with the University of Minho (CEB/DEB), Startup Braga and INL, opened the doors to the 1st Week of Biotechnology in Braga, which took place between 17 and 21 April with a program fully dedicated to the theme.
The opening session took place on April 17th, at Startup Braga, and was attended by the Mayor of Braga, Ricardo Rio, the Vice-Rector of the University of Minho, Eugénio Campos Ferreira, the Vice-President of the School of Engineering of the University of Minho, Lígia Rodrigues, and the Deputy Directors of DEB/CEB, Mariana Henriques and Ana Júlia Cavaleiro.
This initiative was also part of the agenda of the 6th Edition of ExpoBiotec, under the theme “Scaling up Biotechnology”, organized by the Department and Centre of Biological Engineering of the University of Minho (DEB and CEB).
The aim of this consortium is to give visibility and promote the existing potential in the region regarding Biotechnology, ensuring the approximation between the academic and scientific community and the business world and society in general.
For Ricardo Rio, Mayor of Braga, “this initiative allows Biotechnology to meet the city, its companies and entrepreneurs, considering that this industry is one of the great assets that Braga has and is a strategic area of development and expression of the city’s competitiveness”.
Due to the relevance of this industry in the creation of new business models that positively impact the economic development of the city, the initiative took place at Startup Braga and counted on a program that aimed to promote entrepreneurship and give external visibility to projects developed within this ecosystem. For Luís Rodrigues, director of Startup Braga, it is of the utmost importance to host this initiative and ensure an active participation from the community.
“There are more than thirty projects in the areas of health technologies, biotechnology and sustainability that Startup Braga has supported and empowered. Considering the purpose of this initiative in bringing academia closer to the business and industrial world, we seek to contribute to an agenda that ensures and facilitates all this involvement,” he said.
On the other hand, Eugénio Campos Ferreira, Vice-Rector of the University of Minho, sees this initiative as a key opportunity to “transfer the knowledge that is produced at the University of Minho to the economy and the region”, putting scientists, researchers and students in contact with companies and allowing to take advantage of this approach in order to scale all that potential.
During this week several activities took place, designed for the most diverse audiences. The 19th and 20th of April highlighted the programming of the 6th Edition of ExpoBiotec, in which different dynamics were inserted: talks, round tables, presentations and exploratory sessions with regional companies of the Biotechnology sector, workshops and mentoring dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship.
In addition, throughout the week, all interested parties had the opportunity to visit the ExpobiotecArt, an initiative for the expression of Biotechnology and Bioengineering that challenged the students of the CEB/DEB to document their experiences and life experiences through photography and artistic installations.
The full agenda of the initiative may be consulted here.
SOURCE: Município de Braga
