The city of Olhão will have a blue hub pole dedicated to the sea economy, where several laboratories will be installed for the development of services and products in the areas of biotechnology and food, whose first stone was launched this Friday.
The Algarve Blue Hub hub will be born of the reconstruction and expansion of an existing building to the southern limit of the port area of Olhão, in the source of the fishing port, in an investment of 4.4 million euros shared by the Blue Fund and the municipality, following an application for background and resilience plan (PRR).
“It is an infrastructure that will allow the need to have a space that would enhance the” cluster “of the sea,” António Miguel Pina mayor, after the launch session of the first stone of the work, told Lusa.
The infrastructure will function as a “living laboratory, essential for the development of services, goods and products in the areas of biotechnology, food and enhancement of endogenous resources of the sea”, according to the City Council.
For António Miguel Pina, in the territory between Faro and Olhão there is already “the best of the country” related to the cluster of the sea, and the new building will allow to create a space that allows researchers, ‘startups’, among others, “have a place to grow” even more.
“It will also be an important investment for employability in the territories of Ria Formosa,” concluded the mayor of the Faro district.
In an area of 836 m2various testing laboratories and marine organism cultivation will be installed, endowing the pole with capacity for molecular biology, general biology or pathology, including new technologies and robotics, bioprospecting for cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry.
The new building will host rooms for researchers and technicians, areas for living marine organisms, various laboratories and companies reserved for companies, both for their technological development and for their intellectual property.
“With the birth of the blue hub of Olhão, it is intended to further foster the creation of interaction zones between companies, to promote their network with the centers of science and knowledge, and sharing with universities and formative poles,” reads the Blue Hub website.
This entity foresees that in the Olhão building there is a capacity for incubation and installation of 15 companies and a representativeness of 90 jobs, especially qualified employment, which will grow and boost the local and regional, sea -linked economy ”.
The Algarve Blue Hub hub is made up of a consortium between the municipality, the University of Algarve, the Docapesca, and the S2aquacoacolab – collaborative laboratory in sustainable and intelligent aquaculture.
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