Government’s ‘Industry of Knowledge’ program aims to foster start up of new science-based companies
<p>The program will mobilize approximately €30 millions in funds over 5 years</p>
In line with its strategy to transfer technology and knowledge to the business sector, the Government of Catalonia has launched the Industry of Knowledge program, which will guide prototyping projects from the early stages through launch to market.
By mobilizing €30 millions in funds over 5 years, the program expects to award grants to help nearly 300 research projects take the leap from laboratory to market. The aim is to encourage the creation of new spin-offs from research being done in universities and research centers.
In the words of Catalan Minister Andreu Mas-Colell, this program draws on two representative pillars of this country: high scientific productivity and the expertise of the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) regarding funding tools and public and private conversion.
The ‘Industry of Knowledge’ program has three phases: seed, product and market.
The first step –Seed- is the valorization stage. It will offer 40 grants of €25,000 each for protecting knowledge and pre-prototypes. This grant also includes a training and mentoring program.
Later, the second phase of valorization –Product- will award 15 grants of up to €100,00 per year to develop product prototypes and demonstrate their feasibility.
Finally, the early-stage capitalization phase –Market- will offer ICF loans for €2 millions per year over 5 years. These funds will go mainly to commercial activities and production.
The first call for proposals for the Seed phase was opened in December and the deadline to submit is December 2015. This year only 20 seed grants are expected to be awarded.
