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Professor Pardal-style innovation at the 3rd edition of Innovation Day
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The Gualtar campus at the University of Minho was the epicentre of innovation and entrepreneurship this Wednesday, with the 3rd edition of Innovation Day. Organised by Startup Braga and AAUMinho, the event brought together students and experts to discuss the sector's challenges and opportunities, as well as to preview the new edition of the Startup Point Ideation Programme.
The opening session was attended by Luís Rodrigues, director of Startup Braga, Rosa Vasconcelos, student ombudsman at the University of Minho, and Sofia Ribas, secretary of the AAUMinho board. Rosa Vasconcelos said that since the pandemic, ‘students haven't experienced academia to the full’. ‘Participation in initiatives like this is extremely important - it's essential to look at entrepreneurial skills,’ she emphasised.
This was followed by the panel "From the Laboratory to the World: Validate, Protect and Grow", with the participation of Anabela Carvalho, from Patentree, Mónica Gonçalves, from 2CA-Braga, Simão Soares, from SilicoLife, and Ricardo Machado, from the CCG/ZGDV Institute.
For Ricardo Machado, his passion for creation grew with Professor Pardal and his faithful companion Lampadinha, from the Walt Disney universe. In one of his stories, the chicken invented a banana corer. Warned that bananas don't have cores, he didn't hesitate: ‘Then I'll invent a banana with a core’. For Machado, this metaphor illustrates the essence of innovation: the ability to challenge the status quo and find solutions to real problems.
In any case, the president of the CCG/ZGDV Institute admitted that, due to the omission of fundamental research in the market in which it operates, the creative effort is based on economics: ‘the problem already exists and is felt to be the motivation for change - there are no difficulties in realising the applicability and social impact, so the researcher's posture boils down to finding answers to the challenges’.
On the other hand, in the world of basic research, Mónica Gonçalves and Simão Soares emphasised the importance of knowing how to sell. Initially, ‘investors invest in themselves’. It's important to realise what types of funding are needed at a given time and that these are not limited to the financial component, but can, above all, provide access to an extremely important network, they stressed.
Over the years, Anabela Carvalho has come to the conclusion that, in Portugal, making a profit is a sin - a mentality that demotivates and creates unhealthy competition. For her part, Mónica Gonçalves believes that the country has a ‘vegetable garden problem - this is mine and I'm not going to share it with anyone’. The same applies to the relationship between entrepreneurship and academia.
Ricardo Machado warns that ‘the university's mission is to train people and not everyone has to be an entrepreneur’. In any case, it's important to expose students to the world of entrepreneurship and show them examples of national success.
What do IKEA furniture and a bicycle have in common? A kind of pun that gave rise to the sharing of an entrepreneurial story born at the University of Minho. ANCIIAN Bicycles is a start-up founded by engineers trained at the University of Minho, which combines engineering, innovation and sustainability to create unique, high-performance bicycles. Its co-founders, Bruno Dias and João Fernandes, told us how they turned an idea into a real project and the challenges they faced along the way.
This was followed by the panel ‘The Decisive Factors for the Success of a Startup’, with the participation of Ernesto Pedrosa, from Automaise, João Pedro Ribeiro, from PeekMed, and Ricardo Macedo, from Laika Ventures. What do they have in common? Apart from their business success, they share a passion for technology and innovation from an early age. One sold software products on a freelance basis at the age of 18, another set up his first computer at the age of 10 and another sold lemonades at matinees.
‘Masochists enough’, as they call themselves, they believe that the key to success is passion for the problem and not the solution. João Pedro Ribeiro also said that the secret is that there is no plan B: "At an embryonic stage, we're talking about a sale of trust - of trust in what is yet to come. If we manage to sell plan A, investors realise that it's going to happen and that the team is the right one," he said.
The 3rd edition of Innovation Day showed that the link between academia and entrepreneurship continues to grow, encouraging students to turn ideas into concrete projects. With real examples of success and a practical view of the world of startups, the event reaffirms the role of Startup Braga and the University of Minho as an innovation centre.