The Heracles building in the tax area has hosted a meeting with the participation of bioinformatics experts to connect companies, researchers and other key agents in the Biotechnology ecosystem
Today's event is part of Iberobio, a project of which 12 Spanish and Portuguese entities have taken part, which has lasted for almost three years and from which more than 100 companies have benefited.
The conclusions of the Iberobio Project were presented two weeks ago in the Portuguese city of Braga, where the delegate of the Cadiz Free Trade Zone attended, who signed the protocol for the continuity of the project.
The 0041_IBERO_BIO_6_E project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund FEDER within the framework of the Interreg VI program A Spain – Portugal (POCTEP) 2021-2027
The Cádiz Free Trade Zone closed the IberoBio project today in Cádiz with a conference held in the Heracles building of the fiscal complex in which experts in Biotechnology were gathered and which focused on opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship around bioinformatics, which was also attended by officials from representative entities of the sector, such as Carmen Garrido, coordinator of the CEI-Mar and director of the INMAR University Institute of Marine Research of the University of Cádiz; and Antonio Pazos, manager of the Cádiz Naval Maritime Cluster.
Today's event is part of the IberoBio project that was closed in the Portuguese city of Braga two weeks ago and where the work of almost three years of joint work between 12 Spanish and Portuguese entities was highlighted, among which is the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz and its namesake of Vigo, which have been part of the project and which also laid the foundations for the continuity of cross-border biotechnological cooperation, in addition to the main results and tools developed within the framework of the project. In fact, in Braga, the coordinator of Incubazul, Jose Manuel Fedriani, presented the Financing Tool, and the delegate of the Cadiz State, Fran González, signed the protocol of intentions to give continuity to this cross-border cooperation.
It should be noted that the Iberobio Project is of great importance for the ecosystem of biotech startups since more than a hundred biotech business initiatives have benefited from advanced tools and services that make them more competitive and with more guarantees of access to foreign markets. In the overall project, there have been more than 50 companies that have been supported through advanced innovation services, more than 45 those with advanced internationalization services and more than 60 those that have been supported to raise financing.
Among the general achievements of the IberoBio Project we can highlight the Biotechnological Resources Map, the Talent platform, the Training Campus, the Biotech Challenges Platform, the Financing Tool, or the “Impulso Biotech” Accelerator; tangible advances that strengthen cooperation, innovation and competitiveness of the Iberian cross-border biotechnology ecosystem.
This day, with which the Cádiz Free Zone closes its participation in the IberoBio Project, has served to connect to companies, researchers and other key agents, explore new avenues of innovation in bioinformatics and promote entrepreneurship, all of this generating an interesting focus of knowledge transfer in the biotech environment.
Today's event brought together experts in Bioinformatics at the Cádiz tax center, a scientific discipline that combines biology, computer science, mathematics and statistics to manage, analyze and interpret large volumes of biological data. This branch of Biotechnology, considered a fundamental discipline in the biotech sector, has a significant impact in various fields, among which medicine, biotechnology, agriculture and livestock, and ecology stand out.
The first of the presentations was given by José Ramón Valverde, from the National Center for Biotechnology of the CSIC, who spoke about Artificial Intelligence and the Biotechnology of the future. After the opening presentation, a round table moderated by the coordinator of Incubazul, with representatives of INIbIca, the BISITE research group of the University of Salamanca and Nostrum Biodiscovery, a Catalan biotechnology company, took place.
The meeting concluded with a group dynamic and presentation of conclusions with the “design thinking” methodology, a practical and collaborative activity that applies the Design Thinking methodology to solve complex problems in an innovative, user-centered way, through empathy, creativity and rapid experimentation seeking solutions that are desirable for people, technologically feasible and viable for the business.
The State delegate in the Free Trade Zone of Cádiz, Fran González, welcomed the participants and attendees and explained the importance of this day in which we have closed our participation in the IberoBio project with a certification of 100% of the budget. He also insisted on the need to “give continuity to projects like Iberobio that are committed to a very important sector such as Biotechnology that touches on fields of such importance as health, well-being or food with clear examples in startups from our acceleration program such as Marisma Biomed, Abell Pharma, Poseidona, Escaramujo Wines, Galilup Food, Esbeltia, SeaBites Pet Care or Bombus.”
Fran González has highlighted the importance of the protocol signed two weeks ago in Portugal, which "reinforces the commitment to collaboration between countries of the European Union, in this case between Spain and Portugal, and promotes the recruitment of innovative talent in the biotech sector, in our case a fundamental field for work in the innovation, entrepreneurship and Blue Economy ecosystem linked to our Incubazul and Blue Core projects. The work that has been done at IberoBio is very important, in which more than 100 companies.”
It must be remembered that the IberoBio Project was born to promote the biotech ecosystem, covering a vast geographical area, from Galicia and the North of Portugal to Andalusia and the Algarve. This project is a cross-border initiative that seeks to consolidate, position and internationalize the biotechnology sector of the Iberian Peninsula, creating an innovation hub that connects academic entities, companies and research centers to promote collaboration, access to financing and joint growth.
Zona Franca de Cádiz, as a partner of the POCTEP IberoBio project, plays a fundamental role in promoting and supporting the growth of companies and projects in the biotechnology sector linked to the Blue Economy. In fact, several startups in the sector have passed through the acceleration program of the Cádiz Consortium incubator, some of which are experiencing great success and establishing themselves in the business market.
Through this program and its startup incubator Incubazul, access to specialized resources and services has been facilitated, designed to promote the internationalization, innovation and financing of biotechnological initiatives. The 0041_IBERO_BIO_6_E project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund ERDF within the framework of the Interreg VI A Spain – Portugal (POCTEP) 2021-2027 program.