Recognized European institute ″ high ″ innovative profile of Portugal
The director of the Digital cell of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology for the Iberian Peninsula (EIT), Jesus Contreras, considers that Portugal stands out in Europe as one of the countries with “high intensity in digital innovation and in the creation of companies “.
“We have seen in Portugal that innovation and the creation of companies are professionally managed with an integrated approach oriented towards business results”, praised the Spanish manager, in an interview with Dinheiro Vivo.
The EIT is an independent entity from the European Union that focuses its activity on stimulating innovation and technological evolution, supporting young companies and startups in different areas.
In Portugal, “there are several initiatives” of this body, which also include the participation of prominent academic circles and prominent entrepreneurs accelerators. “EIT collaborative relationships with relevant associations in the capital, such as ISCTE-IUL, BGI or Universidade Nova de Lisboa, as well as with very dynamic ecosystems in the northern region, such as Universidade do Minho, DTX-Colab and INESC-TEC, among others, “said Jesus Contreras.
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“On the one hand, we support the creation of new startups from deep technology, with important initial investments and support from international partnerships that allow for growth and escalation from the beginning. On the other hand, EIT also supports existing startups, whether recent, through our Venture program, or scaleups, through our accelerator, usually with one or two companies supported per year,” he added.
This is the work of this organization, and the financing generated for the companies is an important part. But, Contreras stressed, the financial issue is not the EIT’s “main contribution” to business and innovation. The great contribution of this European body to national entrepreneurship is the opening of doors to “a vibrant ecosystem, which allows the creation of deep tech innovations in a really agile environment, with the initial support to become a relevant business in the future”.
Asked about relevant works in which the EIT is involved in Portugal, the director of this institute for the Iberian region highlighted the support to the Portuguese scaleup Fundição Infinita, through the EIT Accelerator. “Infinite Foundry is a 3D factory platform that seeks to improve the production efficiency of any industrial sector,” he explained.
As for future innovations, an EIT got involved with Axians Portugal, “to create a technology in 2022 that allows real-time video translation, an impressive tool for a multilingual Europe”.
It also adds to the work of the EIT in Portugal, a business education initiative focused on cybersecurity for a blockchain with NOVA Information Management School, of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, developed until the summer of 2022.
The EIT this month launches the EIT Community Booster, an initiative to support 20 European startups and scaleups with €50 million in subsidies and services for each due, with €1 million, that develop “high-impact solutions and drive transformation” of the New European Bauhaus, whose design was launched by the European Commission in January 2021. The nomination phase ends on December 17th. JVR