Events

Two of the main purposes of the Bioengineering Systems focus area of the MIT Portugal Program are to promote technology transfer between universities and companies, and to encourage entrepreneurship.

The area's BioTeams -- Innovation Teams module, part of Bioengineering's Advanced Studies course, each year organizes IdeaSpring. This event makes public several biotechnologies with promising economic value that have been developed in Portuguese national research centers and companies. It also promotes the interaction between inventors, students, potential investors and others interested in bio-entrepreneurship. Finally, each MIT Portugal BioTeam presents go-to-market strategies for a particular technology; prizes for the best strategies are awarded.

The 3rd annual IdeaSpring event will be held at Biocant Park in Cantanhede on February 19, 2010. 

(The 2008/09 BioTeams class included seven teams. They worked on projects involving several areas, from novel biomedical devices to new diagnostic tools to commodity products with enhanced properties. The applications of the technologies were mainly in the food, medical and pharmaceutical industries.)  

Details about Bio-Teams and the two previous IdeaSpring events are available here:

• Prof. João Malva’s Bio-Team Wins Biocant Ventures Prize
• MIT Portugal Students Compete for Innovation Prizes, Give Presentations at Ciência 2008 
• Researchers, Students Develop Technology to Detect Protein Breakdown, Win Prizes (+Audio)
• Documents