The National Agency for Innovation (ANI) participates in the 2019 edition of WebSummit, at the Startup Portugal show floor. On November 6, beginning at 11:00 o’clock, the agency will present two projects developed within the scope of the Born from Knowledge initiative: the Innovation Portal and BfK Rise Science and Technology Acceleration Program.

Sometimes it’s not easy to find out who is researching or developing technologies in certain areas, much less finding solutions for corporations’ technological challenges.

An integrated approach is the value proposition of the Innovation Portal: a platform under development by ANI, with the purpose of contributing towards greater ease and agility in liaising with the different players involved in the innovation value chain.

A beta version of the Innovation Portal will be showcased at the WebSummit, in which some of its functionalities shall be demonstrated. In a simple and intuitive manner, this portal will be able to identify, map out and characterize the entities pertaining to the National Innovation System (SNI) and the services they provide, and can also recognize the skill sets of the researchers who work in our country.

The matchmaking between technological supply and demand will also be one of the advantages made available to the users, thereby allowing corporations and other entities to promote their technological proposals as well as find partners who are able to meet their technological challenges.

The BfK Rise Science and Technology Acceleration Program

For teams of investigators who are developing scientific and technological projects with the potential of becoming economically viable products or services, ANI has launched the BfK Rise Science and Technology Acceleration Program.

The main purpose of this accelerator is, in connection with the various different entities of the SNI, to facilitate the transfer of this knowledge and these technologies to the market - and also to validate their potential impact on society. With on-site bootcamps and mentoring offered by specialists of many different fields, groups of 8 teams each will be accompanied during a period of 3 months so as to showcase their technologies on a day chosen for demonstration. The program will involve three different editions: North, Center and Alentejo.

Applications are currently open and will close on November 15 (for the North of Portugal) and February 21 (for the Center of Portugal and Alentejo). Bootcamps relative to the first edition will take place in Porto during the months of December, 2019 and also January and February of 2020 - while the bootcamps relative to the second and third editions will take place simultaneously in the cities of Coimbra and Évora during the months of March, April and May of 2020.

The Innovation Portal and Born from Knowledge are promoted within the scope of SIAC (the Knowledge Transfer Initiative) and are co-financed by COMPETE 2020, by way of Portugal 2020 and the European Regional Development Fund.