The INCORE project, an entrepreneurship and innovation consortium led by Instituto Superior Técnico, has come to an end. Funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology in 1.2 million euros, the project has been running since July 2021 and aimed to encourage interaction between higher education institutions and Portuguese, Spanish and French start-ups in Europe’s outermost regions.

As the leader of the consortium that brought together Universidade da Madeira, Universidad Europea de Canarias and Université de la Réunion, Técnico was the driving force behind the success of these partnerships with companies, which “involves researchers, professors and students and encourages them to bring innovative ideas to the market”, says Nuno Almeida, project coordinator and Técnico professor.

As part of INCORE, various training and mentoring activities were carried out involving more than 700 participants, including students, professors and non-teaching staff from innovation ecosystems in the outermost regions covered by the consortium. As for the start-ups, 22 successfully completed the programme, three from the Azores, three from Madeira, 12 from the Canary Islands and four from the Reunion Island.

Nuno Almeida explains that these training sessions were based on “personalised training and mentoring sessions for the start-ups’ leadership, accompanied by academic staff from the consortium member universities”. Through these sessions, “the start-ups were able to validate the concept and viability of their activity, improve their business plans and strategies for entering or growing in the market and, above all, strengthen their links with the higher education institutions in their region, thereby strengthening mutually beneficial relationships of trust and cooperation,” he adds.