THE II SHERPA DO MAR UNIVERSITY-BUSINESS MEETING PROMOTES SYNERGIES BETWEEN THE BUSINESS FABRIC AND THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY OF THE EUROREGION

With the aim of promoting the transfer of knowledge in the marine-maritime sector of the Galicia-northern Portugal Euroregion as a source of improving competitiveness, this Wednesday the central conference, of an informative nature, was held, the II University-Industry meeting of Sherpa do Mar. Experts from the maritime-marine fields focused their online interventions on this occasion on innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of fisheries, aquaculture and processing, as well as climate change, marine biodiversity and environmental, energy and productive sustainability. The meeting, organized by the Poctep project, led by the UVigo Network group, is completed with Business to Business (B2B) meetings, yesterday, today and tomorrow, open to companies, the research community and individuals. 

“The purpose of this second event organized by Sherpa do Mar is to create a meeting point between the research community and the business world, which promotes the transfer of knowledge in the marine-maritime sector in the Euroregion. In this sense, the meetings connect companies and even individuals with the transfer offices of Galician and Portuguese universities (UVigo, USC, UDC and Porto), the Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), which will attend consultations on scientific-technical aspects , knowledge transfer and research results ”, detail the people in charge of Sherpa do Mar. 

Witnesses of experienced people and project experiences 

Joana Resende, vice-chancellor of the University of Porto for Planning, Entrepreneurship and Knowledge Transfer, was in charge of inaugurating this Wednesday the central day of the II University-Business Meeting of Sherpa do Mar. Resende stressed in his speech the importance of the issues addressed in the meeting "which are in the priorities of the research agendas", as well as the cross-border nature of the Sherpa do Mar project with a strong collaboration of our universities in Galicia and northern Portugal, which is fundamental for the consolidation of our institutions of higher education and the reaffirmation of the economy of the sea in the Euroregion ”.

For her part, Isabel Sousa Pinto, a professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Porto, was the first to speak at a conference entitled Aquaculture and the restoration of marine ecosystems to combat climate change. Then, the coordinator of the Socioeconomic Area of ​​Fisheries of the Sea Technology Center, CETMAR, Rosa Chapela, focused on the participation of the fisheries sector in European projects, while Carlos Pereira, director of the USC Aquaculture Institute, provided the keys to a effective university-business interaction. Francisco Arenas, principal investigator of the CIIMAR Benthic Ecology team, focused his intervention on the last marine forests, while his CIIMAR partner Cláudia Serra delved into tailor-made solutions for aquaculture. For his part, João Tasso de Sousa, professor of the ECE Department and head of the Laboratory of Underwater Systems and Technologies (LSTS) - FEUP, spoke on marine robotics, and Samuel Méndez, CEO of Vigo Activo, focused on the characteristics of venture capital as an investment tool. Pablo Fernández Piñeiro was in charge of closing the round of interventions with an exhibition on the success story of Frigoríficos Mar da Pobra, a company he founded and of which he is managing director. 

The conference ended with a brief presentation of some of the projects that are accelerating in Sherpa do Mar’s Sherpa Journeys entrepreneurship support program. This is the case of Blue Bioprana, which seeks to transfer biotechnology solutions for the treatment and management of organic matter from the agro-industry to aquaculture; Fish & Food Technology, which proposes the use of blockchain to improve the traceability and food safety of fishery products and MytUniSex, focused on the production of large-scale unisex mussel lines.

The cycle of events organized within the framework of Sherpa do Mar will end with a third meeting, which will take place next November.

Source: DUVI