Last Wednesday 16th November, the CRAG-Companies Meeting: Biotechnology at the service of agriculture was held for the first time at CRAG, a day to bring the world of research and the business sector closer together. CRAG is a leading center in basic research, green biotechnology and genomic technologies applied to plant and animal breeding. As a research center, one of its main missions is the transfer of knowledge to society, so that the discoveries made in the laboratory have a direct benefit for all citizens. For this transfer to be effective, research must be aligned with biotechnology companies and the primary sector, jointly facing the imminent challenges of society related to food and environmental protection.

To this aim, this conference was planned with the objective of promoting CRAG’s biotechnological offer and establishing contacts with companies in the agrobiotechnology sector to foster future collaborations. A total of 85 participants attended the meeting and networking took place among researchers, company members, and R&D funding associations. In the event 34 companies from the agrobiotechnology sector were present, including Bayer, Bioiberica Futureco, Invaio or Semillas Fitó, as well as 5 entities from the public sector.

According to CRAG director L. Maria Lois, such a conference is very strategic and

“an opportunity for companies to interact with CRAG researchers, and we are sure that many synergies will arise in the near future”.

 

 

The first part of the day included short talks where CRAG researchers presented their line of scientific research. Afterwards, the attendees had the opportunity to visit the CRAG facilities where they visited the greenhouse, the in vitro culture laboratories or the sequencing and microscopy services. One of the most successful initiatives were the B2B bilateral meetings, which consisted of short meetings between a CRAG researcher and one or more representatives of a company to establish a first contact and discuss future collaborations. To conclude the event, visitors learned about the possibilities of public-private collaboration with CRAG, the funding mechanisms currently available and several previous successful examples of collaboration between CRAG and a company. The last part of the day included a talk by BIOVEGEN, one of the collaborators of the meeting, whose manager, Gonzaga Ruiz de Gauna pointed out:

“it is very encouraging to see how the private sector reacts very favorably when academia makes the effort to showcase and land its work".

 

The organization of the event was possible thanks to the work of the CRAG organising committee, led by Amparo Monfort, IRTA researcher at CRAG, who concluded:

“Hopefully this day will be a starting point to strengthen the relationship between the private sector and our center, CRAG"

This event is part of a series of meetings that will be organised to establish conversations with different CRAG stakeholders, which will also include journalists and members of the general public. These events are part of a project awarded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) to CRAG’s Unit of Scientific Culture and Innovation (UCC+i) (FCT-21-16698).

 

With the collaboration of: