Companies of various dimensions and sectors responded positively to IAPMEI's invitation to the event, which had two distinct parts: in the first, they attended a presentation on “innovation in fibrous materials” followed by another one under the theme “incentives to R&D: Past, Present and Future"; then they went to see some laboratory spaces where Fibrenamics develops its work.

Approximation between universities and the business environment is “fundamental”

The coordinator of the International Platform of Fibrenamics at the University of Minho, Raul Fangueiro, and the coordinator of CAE Norte at IAPMEI, Fátima Tavares, welcomed the participants, agreeing that “it is necessary to bring universities and the business community closer to respond to the challenges of society". Fátima Tavares even said that this approach is “fundamental to the competitiveness of companies”. The World Economic Forum indicators, explained the head of IAPMEI, show that this interaction has decreased in our country, not only because “companies look for more technical services in universities than I&DT”, but also because there are still “some resistance” in institutions . Fátima Tavares explained that at IAPMEI they began to understand the relevance of "demystifying what Universities do" and that, for this reason, they decided to "bring companies to knowledge centers". The leader underlined the fact that a new community framework is starting, and considered it “fundamental” to use the funds to improve the indicators.

This improvement also involves bringing more innovation to the market, and at this point Fibrenamics is a specialist. Through the platform coordinator and UM professor, the participants acquired / updated knowledge about the potential of fibers and the major trends in the area, as well as getting to know some success cases that researchers from the UM platform have already developed, within multidisciplinarity that Fibrenamics offers. “It is this integrated vision that allows us to generate innovation”, concluded Raul Fangueiro. This was followed by Jorge Oliveira, senior technician at CAE Norte at IAPMEI, who explained the system of incentives to companies 2020 and the opportunities that this program opens for companies.

Partnership projects are the key to success

After the presentations, the participants were divided into two groups, and invited to visit four UM laboratories: textile processes laboratory, SEMAT nanotechnology laboratory, polymer processing laboratory, and, finally, the composites and natural fibers laboratory Fibrenamics, located in the facilities of the Center for the Valorisation of Waste (CVR), where the final coffee break took place, for networking.

Luís Silva, from TMG, stated, at the end of the afternoon, that “this session was important” since, he explained, it allowed “to know other companies, to better understand how the market is doing, and to know Fibrenamics projects with other companies”. For his part, Eduardo Diniz, from Continental, also found it interesting to update himself about the platform, taking the opportunity to praise the work developed: “I think it's great”, he said. Continental's director underlined his agreement with what was said in the opening session, confirming that he also believes that "the exchange of ideas between universities, and the knowledge centers associated with universities, and companies" is extremely important.