Carlos Pinho | INESC TEC | Questionnaire
What are the main outcomes of your work on blue bioeconomy?
INESC TEC is a private non-profit research association, with Public Interest status, dedicated to scientific research and technological development, technology transfer, advanced consulting and training, and pre-incubation of new technology-based companies. As an institution operating at the interface of the academic and business worlds, bringing closer together academia, companies, public administration, and society, INESC TEC typically applies the knowledge and results generated as part of its research in technology transfer projects, seeking value creation and immediate social relevance.
The institution presents its competencies to the blue bioeconomy sectors through the TEC4SEA, which has the mission to induce a market pull drive into R&D activities targeting sea and deep-sea challenges towards a sustainable Sea Economy. TEC4SEA is the INESC TEC initiative that brings together R&D&I Institutions, businesses and associations, increasing synergies and critical mass to address real-world challenges related with the Sea Economy, raising up a north-based Ocean Engineering Excellence Network capable of stimulating industries, that will act as the leading international counterpart.
A project on blue bioeconomy you participated in and that you are proud of
Fortunately, we have been working in this sector for years and we have good projects to be proud of. The SCAN Project (“SCAN – SISTEMA DE CALIBRAÇÃO PARA AQUACULTURA”) is an interesting case. This was a research contract developed for one SME located in the North Region. This project started in January of 2014 and finished by June 2015, aimed to develop an autonomous system to calibrate and estimate the biomass exiting in flatfish tanks (Senegalese sole). The system should be able to work underwater and induce as little stress in the species as possible.
The Project ambition and the time pressure were considerable challenges we all faced. Nevertheless, the project achieved a few breakthroughs and the final results were very promising (including one patent). It is quite interesting to refer to this project in 2022, almost 7 years after the project was finished since only recently we felt the market is getting ready for solutions similar to the ones developed in that project.
The best blue bioeconomy tip you follow on your daily life
I tend not to forget blue bioeconomy since I always try to balance what I eat and never forget Sea related food in the weekly diet.
A course, an event, a meeting, a person who impacted and changed or reinforced your ideas/methods/working procedures – good practices
Engineering courses prepare the students to address the problems/challenges in a very pragmatic way; “1 and 0”, “black and white”, etc. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to engage in two very interesting courses that added “new colors to the world” and the way I address the challenges. These were the MIET and the EMBA courses. In different moments of time and in complementary ways, both courses gave me new tools in technological innovation and management that I use quite often.
How do you imagine blue bioeconomy in 30 years? Forecast
Technology is always improving and penetrating increasingly more space in our lives. 30 years from now we should have a more sustainable Blue Bioeconomy sector, with less human involvement in different activities, more automated and supported by added-value data related to the products, solutions and processes.
The best about working with B2E
A very dynamic team with whom we are always learning. Fortunately, INESC TEC is a founding member of B2E and we have been following and supporting this growth from the beginning.
An idea to improve work with B2E
Working with B2E is challenging, they are always improving and innovation is in their blood. We need more close collaboration programs to learn more 😊
When you are not working, you are:
Volunteer activities or enjoying nature.
