This is aid granted by the Interreg VA Spain-Portugal Program (POCTEP) for cooperation between these two cross-border regions that will be developed in 2024 y 2025
The Consortium has joined the IBERO_BIO project through its Blue Economy technological incubator to consolidate, position and promote the internationalization of the Iberian marine Biotech sector, promoting the creation of cooperation networks and the transfer of knowledge
The Free Zone will coordinate a line of work aimed at promote access to different financing opportunities, through a fund for the identification of opportunities, evaluation and advice
The Cádiz Free Trade Zone has been a beneficiary of the granting of FEDER funds within the cross-border cooperation program of the European Union Interreg VA Spain-Portugal (POCTEP) for cooperation between the cross-border regions of these two countries.
Specifically, the Consortium has entered into this new line of ERDF co-financing through the 0041_IBERO_BIO_6_E project to which it has joined together with eleven other Spanish-Portuguese entities – among which is also the Vigo Free Trade Zone – as promoter of the technological incubator of Blue Economy Incubazul and with the main objective of consolidating, positioning and promoting the internationalization of the cross-border Iberian biotech sector, reinforcing the sustainable growth and competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) framed in this strategic sector, promoting the creation of networks cooperation and knowledge transfer.
Thus, this new line of co-financing will be developed in the years 2024 and 2025 with a total investment of two million euros, of which the granting of aid will amount to 1,479,629.28 euros (75% co-financing). It is a global investment distributed among twelve participants, of which the Consortium will assume 10% of the global budget, a total investment of 201,374 euros with an aid intensity of 75%
Project 0041_IBERO_BIO_6_E will benefit startups and projects incubated in the Incubazul acceleration program with activity related to biotechnology, favoring their international expansion thanks to the expansion of the so-called “Cross-border Biotechnology Cluster” for the creation and development of the “Polo “Iberian Cross-border Biotechnology”.
To achieve these objectives, four lines of work will be carried out that will be developed collaboratively between the twelve members of the IBERO_BIO candidacy to promote the internationalization of SMEs, the consolidation and attraction of talent, sectoral hybridization and business competitiveness. of biotech SMEs.
Among these activities is that of promoting access to different financing opportunities, through a fund for the identification of opportunities, evaluation and advice, which will be coordinated by the Cádiz Free Trade Zone.
The aim is to develop a multi-regional fund for the evaluation, advice and mentoring of projects and SMEs in accessing financing to foreign markets, identifying public and private sources for raising capital through the development of a joint monitoring and matching tool, tutoring biotech projects and SMEs and strategic sectors hybridized by biotechnology to improve their capabilities for access to financing in addition to promoting the celebration of events in the form of cross-border meetings between startups and investors.
Along with the Cádiz Consortium, the Vigo Free Trade Zone Consortium and the Colab4Food Association-Collaborative Laboratory for innovation in the Portuguese agri-food industry will actively participate in this activity.
In addition to this line of work, others will address the creation of a collaborative structure, with the cataloging of the existing resources of the biotech sector at the Iberian level or the improvement of SMEs' access to foreign markets and the attraction of talent to the region.
Likewise, open innovation will be promoted through collaboration, with training actions and advanced support services.
This commitment by the Cádiz Free Trade Zone to the biotechnology sector is not new since it must be remembered that at the end of 2021 the Consortium carried out a training action with the INCYDE Foundation of the Chambers of Commerce (within the Operational Program of Employment, Training and Education (POEFE)) to promote self-employment and business creation. Entrepreneurship in the biotechnology sector, knowing that it is a transversal sector that has an increasingly greater weight in the business landscape and with prospects of maintaining a positive and progressive evolution in the medium and long term.
