Project Portugal 2020

The proposal “BIOPOLIS- Promoting a Center of Excellence in Environmental Biology, Ecosystems and AgroBiodiversity”, coordinated by ICETA-CIBIO, is fully aligned with the BIOPOLIS Teaming project, previously approved in the scope of H2020 Teaming program Phase 1. The project aims to upgrade ICETA-CIBIO to a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for R&D&I in Basic and Environmental Biology, Ecosystem Monitoring and AgroBiodiversity, through the TEAMING with University of Montpellier (UM), France. The present proposal was built with the intention to promote the creation of the BIOPOLIS Centre of Excellence, namely by contributing to prepare a proposal to application to the Teaming phase 2 call. This will be achieved by tackling several constrains that are hampering the full development of ICETA-CIBIO to an international CoE. These include: i) limited knowledge on scientific and technological advances by most relevant stakeholders; ii) shortage of durable and consistent research funds, iii) limited pool of private sector partnerships, and iv) difficulties in attracting world-class researchers. To tackle these limitations, this project will promote stakeholder engagement, with the aim of identifying R&D needs, transfer knowledge activities and to foster the establishment of strategic partnerships. The project includes a total of 4 actions that will contribute towards the creation of a new Centre of Excellence (BIOPOLIS), whose sustainability beyond the end of the project will be assure by a number of complementary activities. The first Action is related to the Project Management, and it is designed to set the management structure, to coordinate and supervise all actions and activities of the project, assuring the consistency and quality of project development. The second Action (Interchange for Knowledge Transfer) focuses on promoting the mobility of ICETA-CIBIO members at University of Montpellier throughout the duration of the project, thereby contributing to the exchange of skills and expertise, and ultimately building the strong relationship required to prepare a successful Teaming proposal. The third Action is related to stakeholder engagement, and it will be based on the development of a range of activities leading to the expansion of the collaborative network in the context of BIOPOLIS, with the establishment of partnerships with national and international stakeholders. Finally, the Action 4 will focus on the development of the Business Plan of BIOPOLIS, which will guide the creation and implementation of the CoE. The Business Plan is also an essential element to be submitted to the Teaming Phase 2 call.