The Center for Marine Sciences (CCMar), a research unit associated with the University of the Algarve, can, in the medium term, generate 70 percent of its annual funding needs.
This is the perspective of the Business Plan proposal for a CCMar Technology and Services Center presented by five Lisbon MBA students, who won a competition launched by the research center nationwide.
The award ceremony took place this Friday, in the cycle of conferences «Inovar Algarve». In addition to getting to know the winning team, the general lines of the document were also made known by its authors.
The CCMar challenged students from Management Schools across the country to prepare a Business Plan for the center, which would allow them to face the financing difficulties faced by the scientific sector. The idea behind the plan is to increase the center's own revenues and contribute to greater autonomy.
An initiative of the Algarve structure considered “fantastic” by COTEC General Director Daniel Bessa. The university professor was also the president of the competition's jury, which also brought together a representative from each of the schools invited to participate in the competition.
"This was a very intelligent measure of the CCMar", he defended, considering on the other hand that the center "did a favor to these schools and their students because it proposed them a task", which aims to be applied.
The winning Business Plan was prepared by Diana Malhado, Inês Santos, Sara Oliveira, Sofia Barbosa and Sofia Gueifão.
Five years to have 70 percent funding level
The Business Plan created by the students of the Lisbon MBA management school is based on the experience of the center and what it already offers to the economic sector, in terms of services and knowledge.
This research center has already produced several business ideas, the so-called spin-off companies, some of which are already operating in the market, such as Sparos, which is dedicated to the production of feed for aquaculture fish.
Taking into account the potential of the work developed by CCMar and the market need for innovative products in this area, the proposed Business Plan suggests a path, based on four phases, which will substantially increase the center's self-financing.
The first step, as suggested by the students who drew up the plan, is to adapt the center's internal structure «to a more business-oriented model». For this, an “adaptation of the personnel structure” would be necessary, namely the inclusion of people more connected to the management area.
This measure would allow researchers to focus more on pure and hard scientific work, leaving the business area to people with more vocation for this work.
From here, it will be possible, in a second phase, to redefine the offer of services, which would allow to «leverage the know-how» existing in the centre.
From here, the plan suggests that the CCMar invest in capitalizing on the knowledge it has produced and will continue to produce, through the «creation of valuable products». An example is the production of juveniles of fish species of high commercial interest, for breeding in aquaculture.
At a more advanced stage, suggest the Lisbon MBA students, the CCMar could venture into “scientific tourism”, an area little explored in the region and with good potential. Basically, it is about calling itself “a part of the emerging ecotourism market”.
These steps, according to the Business Plan, would be taken in the next five years, which would allow, according to projections of the document's proponents, that CCMar would generate 70 percent of its financing needs in 2018.
A “very pleasant” perspective for the director of the Algarve Research Center Adelino Canário, but for which a lot of work still needs to be done.
Despite already being «developing a mentality of connection between companies and researchers», this relationship «must be deepened», he believes, something that will be fundamental for the plan's perspectives to materialize.
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