Fraunhofer promotes the creation of new companies in health, digital agriculture and artificial intelligence
21 Jan 2021
Named "Ahead Portugal” and inspired by the German model. The program's objective is to find new technological solutions in the areas of health, digital agriculture or artificial intelligence. In the end, Fraunhofer startup companies will develop and implement these ideas business
The entrepreneurship program - mentions "Jornal de Negócios" - aims to take advantage of the knowledge of 16 of its employees at the Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS center, in Porto, together with the technologies that are developed there, for the creation of innovative startups.
The registrants, organized in six teams, will receive training, training and capacity building, thus helping to incubate spin-offs with a business model based on health technologies, digital agriculture and artificial intelligence that the company develops.
"Ahead Portugal” assumes itself as a technology transfer, entrepreneurship and innovation program and will "present the potential of Fraunhofer Portugal's technologies and employees to potential investors and external entrepreneurs", says the institution.
The first step of the program is the realization, at the end of January, of a "bootcamp" (training ground), where the teams will be guided and trained by several mentors and specialists. The projects that leave there will be evaluated by a jury session in which participants will have to make pitches (presentations) in order to "sell" the technological solution found.
The two best business ideas will be monitored more closely over the course of a year, with a view to creating the startups that will develop and implement the proposals.
Fraunhofer Portugal was born in Porto in 2009, as a result of a partnership between the German Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the Foundation for Science and Technology and the University of Porto. At its Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS center, 80 researchers work with skills in artificial intelligence, cyber-physical systems, and user-centered design.
