The Blue Bioeconomy CoLAB (B2E) brought together more than 40 entities, including the Minister of the Sea, Ricardo Serrão Santos, and the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor (video speech), relevant companies and scientific institutions in the sector, on December 3rd. The objective was to identify and present solutions to business challenges and promote innovation, knowledge and the exchange of experiences, during the first edition of the Blue Workshop for INnovation and Knowledge Exchange (Blue WINK-E), this Friday, at the University of Aveiro (UA) and online.

“I will tell you why this will certainly be an investment with a return,” assured the president of the CoLAB, António Isidoro, in his opening speech. “Because at CoLAB B2E we are genuinely committed to providing you with solutions to your challenges, to improving processes and productivity, to transforming procedures and, why not, to doing so in collaboration with us, as that is the reason for our existence,” he stated.

A mission, he added, that ranges from “a macro level, to stimulate the sector’s economy, create skilled jobs, transfer technology (we prefer the English term Technology Exchange, which our mentor Nick Veck uses so assertively), to a micro level of understanding its difficulties, which we will call opportunities for overcoming them,” added Isidoro.

The future of fish and nutritional trends in aquaculture – what are the challenges and solutions?

The Future of Fish and Nutritional Trends in Aquaculture were some of the highlighted topics during a restricted, invitation-only session, which included presentations on the challenges faced by some of the largest companies in the Portuguese blue bioeconomy and B2E associates, such as SONAE MC, NAVIA, Safiestela (Sea Eight Group), Savinor and Sorgal (Soja de Portugal Group), Entogreen and Sparos, and interaction with selected researchers from the most prestigious universities and entities linked to research and teaching, such as the University of Aveiro (UA), the Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), the ICVS/3Bs of the University of Minho and INESC TEC.

Why work with B2E?

The event was also an opportunity for our team to present and defend the reasons why all participants should find many reasons to work with CoLAB. Maria Coelho (Innovation Management) and Marta Santos (Business Development) presented our services during the event. Intrigued? You can also watch our presentation video, directed by Ana Rita Ribeiro.

Intellectual Property and the Impact of Private Investment on Technological Development in the Blue Economy

J. Pereira da Cruz was represented by Tiago Andrade, who spoke about Intellectual Property, including protection strategies, and the impact of private investment on technological development in the blue economy was the topic developed by Rita Sousa, from Faber Blue Pioneers. This is the first venture capital fund dedicated to innovative technologies for the blue economy and climate action, selected within the framework of PORTUGAL BLUE.

Role of B2E – Interventions by the Minister of the Sea and the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education

These arguments were also evident during the video speech by Minister Manuel Heitor, who also emphasized the role of CoLAB in responding to various challenges, such as the search for proteins, aquaculture and a more sustainable food chain, climate change, among other topics.

The Minister of the Sea, Ricardo Serrão Santos, highlighted the results of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), as well as the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 26. It is worth highlighting the results achieved by B2E, since CoLAB is a partner in the consortia of four eligible PRR applications with budget allocations. All four applications were classified as “Very Good,” out of only 60 approved and more than 140 applications submitted, with a value exceeding €1440 million.

The Director-General of Maritime Policy, Helena Vieira, the Rector of the University of Aveiro, Paulo Jorge Ferreira, and the Vice-Rector, Artur Silva, were also present at the Blue WINK-E Workshop, as well as many leaders and teams from companies and institutions, to whom we are grateful for participating in this first edition of the event and for helping us to drive this innovation and exchange of knowledge.

The initiative was sponsored by UA and SONAE MC, our esteemed partners, and we are already preparing for the next edition in November 2022.