The second call for proposals for the Poctep programme, a cross-border cooperation initiative within the Interreg VA Spain-Portugal, has approved the launch of 96 projects, selected from a total of 295 proposals. The University of Vigo will lead three of them and will be present, as a partner, in nine others. The sum of the budgets of these three proposals in which UVigo is the main beneficiary exceeds 3.3 million euros, of which more than one million corresponds to the Vigo institution, part of which is financed by ERDF funds.
The Mobae project is committed to creating an advanced and extended mobility value chain in Galicia and northern Portugal. It has a budget of 1,202,315 million euros, of which 422,832 euros correspond to the UVigo. For its part, BlueBioLab proposes the creation of a cross-border marine biotechnology laboratory with a budget of 1,122,152 euros, of which 272,651 euros correspond to the University of Vigo. Finally, the third project led by the University of Vigo is Sherpa do Mar, which studies the possibility of creating a Euroregional platform to promote competitiveness in the marine sector. For this, it has a budget of 997,184 euros, of which 342,779 euros correspond to the University of Vigo. This second edition of the call was characterized by its high competitiveness, since only 33% of the projects presented were approved.
BlueBioLab
BlueBioLab is a proposal from the Campus do Mar and aims to design and set up a cross-border marine biotechnology laboratory. It has a budget of 1.1 million euros, of which 841,614 euros correspond to ERDF aid. The objective of this proposal, whose IP is José Manuel García Estévez, the director of ECIMAT, is to promote smart growth through cross-border cooperation to promote innovation that will launch a laboratory of scientific excellence in marine biotechnology. “The idea is that this new infrastructure will boost the capacity to develop excellence in R&I, internationalize the R&D&I capacities of the Euroregion, optimize the use of infrastructure and contribute to achieving the expected results in the RIS3, RIS3T and the Blue Growth strategy,” explains Daniel Rey, director of the Campus do Mar. Thus, this laboratory will focus on some of the major challenges facing society and the environment, through the study of marine biological resources, paying special attention to their sustainable exploitation. The preferred lines of research will address topics such as aquaculture and biotechnology, development of new bioactive compounds and biomaterials of marine origin and use of omics technologies for the understanding of marine biodiversity. The partners of this initiative are the universities of A Coruña, Santiago and Minho, the CSIC, the IEO and the Ciimar.
Mobile
The professor of the Department of Business Organization and Marketing Pablo Cabanelas coordinates the Mobae project and explains that it arises in an environment of enormous transformation in the value chain associated with mobility. “New solutions for mobility are emerging that pose threats and also opportunities for a production system as strong as, for example, the automotive industry and which has a strong presence in the Euro-region”, he explains. In this environment, Mobae aims to hybridize knowledge between different fields, automotive, ICT, aerospace and, to a lesser extent, hyper-longevity in the Euro-region. With this intention, the project, which will last 31 months and have a total budget of €1,202,315, of which €901,736 corresponds to ERDF funding, aims to identify new skills that are emerging in the mobility environment and detect and support initiatives or business opportunities that may have potential in this new reality that we have to live. In fact, the name of the project corresponds to “Advanced Mobility (MOB) (new skills, autonomous, connected, electric or shared mobility) and Extended, because its aim is to identify intersections of knowledge between the areas mentioned above”. Therefore, Cabanelas points out “it involves work on identifying capacity, detecting and supporting initiatives with potential, raising awareness and training of entrepreneurs and managers and advising the selected initiatives, including in the identification of potential funding sources.
Six institutions are involved in the project, four Galician and two Portuguese: UVigo as coordinator, CSIC Santiago, Ceaga and Igape and the CEiiA (Centre for Engineering and Development) and the University of Minho.
Sea Sherpa
Sherpa do Mar, with a budget of almost one million euros (€747,887 is Feder funds), is a proposal from the REDE group coordinated by Professor Xosé Henrique Vázquez, Professor of Business Organization. It has the participation of Campus do Mar and OTRI, which are joined by partners such as the Consorcio Zona Franca de Vigo, GAIN, the universities of Santiago and Coruña, the Asprela Technology Transfer Association, the University of Porto Inovação, Ciimar and Fórum Oceano-Associação da Economia do Mar. The objective is to “create and boost a Euroregional platform to promote competitiveness in the marine-maritime field through the promotion of technology-based companies with high added value”, highlight its promoters. To this end, existing technological-scientific synergies will be enhanced and the creation and consolidation of new knowledge-intensive business activities in the marine-maritime field will be boosted. These actions will, in turn, promote innovation, job creation and increased business competitiveness.
Projects with a Vigo presence
In addition to the three projects led by the University of Vigo, the institution participates in nine others as a partner with other entities and organizations. For example, 2IQBIONEURO, coordinated by the USC, is committed to an R&D network in biological chemistry for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases. Acuaenergy, led by the Aquaculture Cluster, seeks to improve the competitiveness of aquaculture plants through energy efficiency. Another project is Acuinano, also from the USC, which studies the impact of metal nanoparticles on aquatic ecosystems and aquaculture products in order to develop methods that allow their detection. Algalup is another of the initiatives in which the University of Vigo participates, which, under the coordination of Anfaco, seeks an integral alternative for the exploitation of macroalgae in the areas of Galicia and Portugal. Anfaco also promotes the Foodsense project, focused on the transfer of sensor technologies to prevent food risks.
Con Emprende Makers, iniciativa do Concello de Ourense, preténdese a crear unha rede de emprendemento baseada nos centros de fabricación dixital e prototipado da Eurorrexión Galicia-Norte de Portugal, que actuará como un espazo común de innovación tecnolóxica e creativa. Pola súa banda, a Mancomunidade do Salnés lidera Nova TFE, unha proposta para buscar novas oportunidades de negocio para PeMEs baseadas en tecnoloxías facilitadoras esenciales (TFE). O Centro Tecnolóxico del Mar – Fundación Cetmar é o beneficiario principal de Radar on Raia, unha proxecto que se insire no Observatorio RAIA, que aglutina un número elevado de entidades da costa atlántica da península ibérica con actividade relevante no eido da oceanografía operacional. Finalmente, o último proxecto no que está implicada a Universidade de Vigo é Unisf, Universidade sen Fronteiras, liderado pola Universidade de Minho, co obxectivo de fortalecer as relacións da Rede de Universidades da Eurorexión Galicia-Norte de Portugal para a creación de graos e titulacións conxuntas.
Source: DUVI
