The year 2021 began with two auspicious events: the launch of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign and the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Although seemingly unrelated, these two events are, in my opinion, intimately linked. The development of Covid-19 vaccines (plural!) was a triumph of science and biotechnology. We witnessed the greatest collaborative effort of all time, in which scientists, governments, and regulatory bodies joined forces to fund and expedite the development, testing, and approval of several highly effective vaccines, achieving success in less than a year and consequently allowing us to hope that this pandemic will end soon.

We also witnessed, as one of the first official acts of the Portuguese Presidency, the launch of the new framework program for research and innovation, which will run from 2021 to 2027, Horizon Europe. This ambitious €100 billion program will be fundamental in shaping the future of the blue bioeconomy. Without funding frameworks like Horizon Europe and its predecessor, H2020, the advances we are seeing in science and technology would be impossible. I have already mentioned the Covid-19 vaccines, but these were only one part of this global effort. New medical ventilators and other innovative medical equipment have been developed, new rapid testing solutions, portable UV light disinfection equipment, and the list goes on. All these developments have allowed ICUs around the world to significantly increase their capacity, managing to cope with what would otherwise have been a losing battle. Perhaps more discreet have been the discoveries in blue biotech, such as the reprophylaxis of plitidepsin (a synthetic drug based on a substance produced in a species of ascidian found in the Mediterranean Sea, used in the treatment of some types of cancer), which has proven effective in reducing the viral load in patients with COVID-19. Or the discovery that a polysaccharide from a macroalga could serve as a potential drug candidate to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Without the funds that were quickly made available for Covid-19 related R&D, it would have been impossible to get where we are today. Without collaboration, we would have failed. This type of collaboration is at the root of CoLABs, and we are working together to be part of this exciting new era of open science.

Antônio Isidoro
CEO of Soja de Portugal
President of B2E CoLAB