It will be the Algarve Tech Hub, but also the Clinical Simulation Center and the energy transition project that is already underway in Ilha da Culatra. The Algarve Technological Pole was presented this Saturday, in Faro, and will have as key words “strategy and trust” between the public and private partners of the initiative.
This is guaranteed by João Guerreiro, scientific coordinator of CRIA – Division of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer of the University of Algarve, former rector of the Algarve Academy and main driver of this project, who presented it at the project presentation and financial support formalization ceremony that the European Union will provide for the installation of this new valence.
The ceremony, which was attended by Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and Maria do Céu Albuquerque, Secretary of State for Regional Development, also served to sign memoranda of understanding with companies and entities in the ecosystem of information technologies.
«The Technological Pole, as it was initially conceived, has three key areas, which are information technologies, health and energy. The candidacy that was formalized here today covers the first two aspects», explained João Guerreiro to the journalists, on the sidelines of the session.
The application in question was made to CRESC Algarve 2020 and has a global value of almost 5,5 million euros. Of these, 70% will be guaranteed by the European Union.
The part that belongs to the university and other entities involved in the Technological Pole is around 1,6 million euros. "But the university puts that money into services, namely with part of the salaries of the group that was mobilized for this project, which is numerous, including administrative staff, technicians, researchers and professors."
The lion's slice, the 3,8 million that will be guaranteed by the EU, will largely serve to convert and equip two buildings, one in Penha, for information technologies, and the other in Gambelas, for health.
On the Gambelas campus, the 4th floor of the building where UAlg's Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine is located, will be reconverted and will have "very expensive equipment", which will be made available to "companies working in the areas of biomedical sciences'.
“It will work, to a large extent, as an infrastructure that can reconcile UAlg's research teams with small external research groups linked to companies,” explained João Guerreiro.
At Penha, the infrastructure for research technologies will essentially serve to host companies in this area.
«This is not a real estate action, of renting spaces, it is an integration of what the activities of these companies are with those of the university – in promotion, in advanced training, in the creation of joint projects, in the promotion of professional internships within the companies themselves and in promoting the nucleus abroad”, according to the former dean of UAlg.
“It is known that most of these companies have a substantial turnover with the world. many of them have 80% of their turnover with countries like India, China and the United States of America. And what interests us is that this is reflected in the daily life of UAlg and that the training that can be offered here is contaminated by this environment of external relations that companies have», added the also full professor at the Algarve university.
The creation of the pole could also help to alleviate the difficulty in attracting qualified labor. The idea is for the Algrave Tech Hub to be «a platform for attracting external people, who walk around the world. Digital nomads are well known today, people with excellent training who are looking for the best places to live».
These highly qualified professionals look for regions that “have an interesting climate, good accessibility, proximity to a range of cultural and sporting activities, among others. The Algarve is a great region to provide the living conditions that these people are looking for».
Manuel Heitor, for his part, highlighted the importance and relevance of the project for the Algarve, but also for the country.
“We are here to make the future. And, of course, this will be with the campuses and university facilities also with spaces for co-location of companies. Therefore, transforming the Penha Campus into an innovation space open to companies and where they share space with Higher Education teachers and students is the future», said the member of the Government.
«It is particularly symbolic that the Algarve Tech Hub was born on the campus of a polytechnic institute. This is what should be happening across the country, although we already have other experiences. This will transform not only this UAlg hub but also the relationship between Campus da Penha and the city of Faro», he added.
The renewed connection with the city that hosts the two largest campuses of UAlg was also highlighted by the dean of the institution Paulo Águas. «The Algarve Tech Hub will be a decisive instrument to deepen the 3rd mission of higher education institutions – the interaction with society -, based on research and teaching.
For the head of the Algarve academy, this valence “will contribute to the creation of wealth, to the increase of qualified employment, to the diversification of the regional economic fabric, to pedagogical innovation and to the creation of knowledge”.
As for the many years it took since the original idea of creating a UAlg Technology Pole, Manuel Heitor believes that everything went smoothly.
«Almada Negreiros said that “science requires time that each one of us does not have”. Science policies are about patience. Now, there are works to be done and things to happen, but the path that has been taken so far is one of validation and growing recognition by the university. I think nothing could be better to celebrate 40 years of the university than having this project and opening the Penha Campus to companies and the city», believes the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education.
João Guerreiro, on the other hand, assures that the companies «are in a phase of enormous convergence» with UAlg. "It was not easy. It took us years to date companies here. But we were doing projects together and we used instruments that the Algarve Regional Development Coordination Commission puts at our disposal, in such a way that today we have an environment of trust that allows us to walk together in the consolidation of this Technological Pole». explained.
During the presentation of the project, the former dean of UAlg anticipated that «300 to 350 engineers and programmers would work simultaneously at the Algarve Tech Hub», while at the Center for Valorization and Knowledge Transfer, or Clinical Simulation Centre, they would work «50 to 80 researchers».
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