Celebrating 30 years of innovation agencies in Portugal

As part of the celebrations of 30 years of innovation agencies in Portugal, the event's main theme was Innovation and Technological Valorization towards Sustainable Development Goals. The programme brought together national and international guests participating in joint and individual sessions tailored to each type of entity.

Within the celebrations of 30 years of innovation agencies in Portugal, ANI organised an event on 16 November in Lisbon. Under the theme 'Innovation and Technological Valorization towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)', the event promoted best practices and networking among four different ecosystems:

• Collaborative Laboratories (CoLABs): entities dedicated to the production, dissemination and transmission of knowledge by pursuing their own research and innovation agendas while solving complex problems.
• Research and Technology Organisations (CTIs): entities dedicated to the production, dissemination and transmission of knowledge, aimed at companies and economic value creation, contributing to the pursuit of public policy objectives, within the framework of smart specialisation domains.
• Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs): structures responsible for technology transfer and knowledge valorization of activities within Higher Education Institutions (HEI), including universities and polytechnic institutes.
• Startups participating on the BfK Ideas competition: within Born from Knowledge (BfK) entrepreneurship programme with the aim to promote scientific and technological entrepreneurship.

These four ecosystems had specific programmes to address their unique needs and joint sessions for common issues. The event started with a focus on improvement and growth, featuring sessions on best practices and success stories in Portuguese Higher Education Institutions, CTIs, and CoLABs, particularly on the role of Research and Technology in addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Participants had also the opportunity to learn more about Sustainable Funding Opportunities with the presence of Arnoldas Milukas from the European Commission and other prominent Portuguese entities. Subsequently, Jerry Sheehan, Director for Science, Technology, and Innovation at the OECD, shared his perspective on the relationship between innovation, technological valorization, and the SDGs. Jerry Sheehan then engaged with the audience to understand how their work aligns with the SDGs and answered questions about the OCDE’s perspectives on Portuguese Innovation.

CTIs, CoLABs, and TTOs also had the opportunity to participate in workshops:  one on collaborative branding and another on productization.

Finally, the three ecosystems split to analyze the results of the current year, and devised strategies for the challenges ahead.

Parallel to those activities, 21 teams competed on the semifinal and final of the BfK Ideas national competition. Within the Born From Knowledge programme, this initiative allowed for entrepreneurs from Portuguese academia to pitch the best business ideas ‘born from knowledge, from R&D activities and scientific and technological research activities. On the 8th edition, the BfK Ideas trophy went to three projects, in three different categories:

• "Health, Biotechnology, and Food," won by the Rapid Phage Sensing (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)
• "Green Transition," won by Flattie (Universidade de Aveiro)
• "Digital Transition," won by Inclusive Programming (Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa)

The event finished with a networking After-party, where other guests from Venture Capital funds and other private sector entities, took the opportunity to engage with participants from the four different ecosystems.

With around 250 participants, this event contributed to boosting knowledge transfer to the business sector and took a significant step in discovering how research and development entities can collaboratively contribute to addressing the major challenges and most urgent issues of our time, putting innovation and knowledge in the service of society.