Parque do Alentejo de Ciência e Tecnologia, SA

Location

Parque do Alentejo de Ciência e Tecnologia, SA

Herdade da Barba Rala

Rua Luís Adelino Fonseca, Lote 1-A

7005-345 Evora

PORTUGAL

Technology

Sector

Company support, consultancy activities

ERDF funding

€2,118,000,000

Project summary

The University Centre of Andalusia, Alentejo and the Algarve (CIU3A) is an innovation centre involving the universities of Seville, Evora and the Algarve, with the participation of PACT – the Alentejo Science and Technology Park, specializing in Industry 4.0, Logistics, Materials and Sustainability. The project is to include a group of facilities, an initial management and organization system, and certain RDI activities.

Its cross-border nature makes it possible to take advantage of the opportunities linked to collaboration and complementarity among the universities; the economies of scale due to its multicentre character (one centre in each region); and the possibilities of using these real cross-border environments for RDI (e.g. logistics).

PACT – the Alentejo Science and Technology Park, as a leader of the Regional Technology Transfer System, aims to make Alentejo a globally recognized innovation centre through the creation of an ecosystem of innovation, attracting innovative companies with sustainable results (start-ups, universities, polytechnics, the state, companies), the promotion of scientific capacity and international ambition in the region, and contribution towards the innovation agenda, incentivizing knowledge transfer, dynamization and the promotion of synergies between the academic and business spheres.

Participation in the CIU3A project is a major step, given that the objectives are consistent with and complement PACT’s own aims.

Project goal

The main goal of this project is the creation of a physical infrastructure in the PACT (the Infante Dom Henrique Centre), which will house the Aeronautics Laboratory, the Digital Health Laboratory and the Precision Agriculture Laboratory, all spaces of excellence dedicated to RDI activities and knowledge transfer processes.

The Alentejo Centre of the CIU3A will be called the Infante Dom Henrique Centre, and each of its laboratories, in its own field of specialization, will carry out innovation and research activities, complemented with experiential activities as a way of maximizing the knowledge transfer process.

Each laboratory will use the knowledge and resources available in the Alentejo Regional Transfer and Technology System (led by PACT) and in the Cross-border Cooperation Area (principally the other CIU3A centres).

Expected results and indicators

The main result will be the CIU3A centres, specifically in this case, the Infante Dom Enrique Centre.

By facilitating the construction of a building, the project will provide the facilities necessary to increase PACT activities, specifically the activities of innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer for the business ecosystem.

What is expected is the creation of companies with new products or processes, specific advances in terms of the territory’s specific challenges and opportunities, and greater cross-border integration and cooperative relationships among companies and universities.

Potential impact of the project

It is expected that the CIU3A will have a positive impact in areas including specific challenges and opportunities, strategic RIS3 strategies and business competitiveness by means of an improvement in research and innovation infrastructure and capacity to build R&D excellence as well as the promotion of skill centres, especially those of European interest (investment priority 1A).

In the conception of the centre, the areas of specialization were selected bearing in mind the challenges, the current opportunities and the long-term strategies set for the regions and for the Cross-border Cooperation Area (CCA).