Tomorrow, 3 March, the BioGalicia Summit will take place, the international biotech meeting that will feature Galician biotech firms such as Zendal, in the field of health, or Estrella Galicia, in the agri-food sector. The event takes place within the activities of the BioIncubaTech project, the High Technology Incubator promoted by the USC, the Chamber of Commerce of Santiago de Compostela and UNINOVA, and financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INCYDE Foundation of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce.
During the day, there will be presentations and round tables with the participation of entities that are committed to digitalisation in the field and the laboratory, such as DATAlife, Galacteum, AMSlab and Gradiant, and companies that will address trends in the application of biotechnology in the agri-food sector, such as Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), or in health, such as Merck KGaA.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will also welcome the venture capital companies Semola Tech Ventures, Unirisco, CRB Inverbio and UCB Ventures, which will analyse the most effective means and tools for raising private finance, before giving way to Gabriela Díaz Figuls, from the Spanish Ministry of Finance and Public Function, who will present the Next Generation funds applied to the field of health sciences and economic promotion in Galicia, accompanied by Santiago Álvarez on behalf of the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (Igape), accompanied by Santiago Álvarez, representing the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (Igape) of the Galician Regional Government, will explain in detail the Next Generation funds applied to the field of health sciences and agri-food and the role of SMEs in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan promoted by the central government.
To close the day, Jose María Blasco from ICEX, Judith Padrós from Monx and Jon Mowles from the UK Department for International Trade will address the internationalisation opportunities for the biotech sector.
In addition to the main event, from today until Friday, 4 March, the BioGalicia Summit is hosting networking meetings that will bring together the players in the biotechnology ecosystem. Attendees will be able to arrange one-to-one meetings that will serve to channel research towards the market and companies, explore new opportunities for collaboration between companies, and open up market niches by jointly developing innovative initiatives.
The inauguration will be carried out by the director of the Area of Valorisation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship of the USC, and head of BioIncubaTech, José Luis Villaverde, who will give way to representatives of Bioga, Axencia Galega de Innovación, Incyde, the mayor of Santiago, Xosé A. Sánchez and the Rector of the University of Santiago de Compostela, D. Antonio López Díaz. During the event, the director of AVTE will also present the results and milestones achieved since the beginning of the project, at the end of 2019.
Throughout these months, BioIncubaTech has hosted a total of 43 projects linked to the field of health and agri-food, more than 90 support activities were developed, many of them open, which had a direct impact on more than 290 companies in the Galician business network. Its activities focused on improving communication and marketing, the search for funding, advice on business development and internationalisation and industrial protection, among others, with the participation of leading speakers and experts in the biotechnology sector.
Among the projects that received awards were Celtarys Research, Keybiological, Arnigal Cultivos, BFlow, and TasteLab, selected by Emprendedores magazine as a valuable and innovative company in the agri-food sector. We also find renowned scientists of the stature of María José Alonso, who leads the LiberaBio project, or María de la Fuente, PhD in Pharmacy and CEO of DIVERSA, José Tubio, promoter of the incubated Genome4Care and current National Cancer Research Award, and scientists in the international elite such as Álvaro Goyanes, who appears for the third consecutive year in the list of the most influential researchers in the world prepared by Web of Science.
BioInvestorsDay: the commitment to biotech investment
In parallel to the BioGalicia Summit activities, BioInvestorsDay will take place on 3 March from 12:00 to 14:00: a private meeting point for incubated biotech companies to present their projects to various prominent players in the investment community with an interest in collaborating in the development of business projects with an impact. During the day, a round table will be held to listen to the opinions of several experts in the sector on the megatrends of investment in biotechnologies in the health and food sector, which will be attended by regional entities such as XesGalicia and Noso Capital, and national entities such as Caixa Capital Risc, Ship2B Ventures, Clave and Kaudal.
BioIncubaTech
BioIncubaTech, High Technology incubator for the promotion of innovation and transfer of biotechnology in the field of health and food technologies, is a project led by the Area of Valorisation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship (AVTE) of the USC, together with the Chamber of Commerce of Santiago de Compostela and UNINOVA, and financed by the European ERDF Fund and the Xunta de Galicia through the Galician Innovation Agency, is one of the initiatives included in the Biotechnology Consolidation Strategy that the Xunta de Galicia has launched for the period 2021-2025.
This centre is part of the Network of 17 High Technology Incubators (IAT) that the INCYDE Foundation is promoting in Spain with the aim of incorporating R&D&I and technology into micro-SMEs. This project is 80% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund – ERDF within the Pluri-regional Operational Programme of Spain ERDF 2014-2020. A WAY OF DOING EUROPE.