Last March 29, Hugo Botelho, Principal Investigator from the Cystic Fibrosis Research Group and leader of the High-Throughput Screening Facility, at Ciências ULisboa, participated in TECH4INNOV: the present and the future of innovation, at EUROPARQUE (Santa Maria da Feira), on which he showcased his most recent research results regarding new strategies which may improve Cystic Fibrosis therapy, accompanied by a team from TecLabs

Additionally to the talks and debates with national and international experts in knowledge and technology transfer of R&D results, TECH4INNOV participants had the opportunity to contact directly with several companies and create synergies regarding new job opportunities. There was still time and space for a technological showcase with some of most successful case studies from the national scientific system stakeholders, on which Hugo Botelho, together with a TecLabs team, participated.

According to the BioISI researcher, TECH4INNOV organization provided an: “(…) exciting environment where the focus was in discussing innovation, technological disruption and entrepreneurship.” Furthermore, Hugo believes that the event will have a great impact on the R&D results exploitation is planning to keep working on, as he says that: “The event was a great opportunity to discuss possibilities of technology transfer and licensing a recent international patent we have filed. (…) [it] was really helpful in selecting the relevant contacts, pointing me towards the most important sessions and suggesting me additional training opportunities.”

In fact, for Hugo, more than the synergies he might have established, the event was an opportunity to “(…) learn about several examples on how work performed at academia spun off into promising prototypes or profitable businesses, and to get a birdseye view on the remarkable scientific and technological advancements of the last years in our country.”, which is very important for someone who is taking the first steps in this field. Indeed, as Hugo himself says: “I learnt a lot a TECH4INNOV and will continue to look for more ways to value our research”.

The TECH4INNOV is a technological showcase of the national R&D results, bringing together R&D units’ representatives, startup founders, investors, technology transfer professionals, as well as other important stakeholders in the field and was promoted by Agência Nacional de Inovação.

Hugo Botelho at TECH4INNOV stand [image provided by the researcher]