Catalonia and Scotland allocate up to 1,5 million euros to the promotion of innovation projects between companies in both territories
05 Aug 2019
More cooperation between Catalonia and Scotland
In addition to promoting joint projects between companies in Catalonia and Scotland, other initiatives will be fostered under the agreement such as the organization of a mission for Catalan companies in the health and life sciences sector to Scotland next February, which focuses on advanced therapies and regenerative medicine. Similarly, a group of Scottish manufacturing companies will travel to Catalonia on the occasion of the IOT Solutions World Congress, which will be held in Barcelona in October.
At the same time, Scotland will also be able to benefit from Catalonia Trade & Investment’s Tecniospring INDUSTRY program, which offers 100% grants to hire experienced R & D personnel for two years. Through this program, Catalan and Scottish companies will be able to incorporate researchers to carry out collaborative projects. In addition, the agreement also promotes the development of projects in the field of innovative public procurement on an international scale between companies in both territories, training initiatives and the organization of conferences to share good practices, in addition to identifying opportunities in the field of technology transfer.
Two innovative ecosystems
The Scottish government has a strategy to promote and disseminate scientific and technological research through a series of instruments for the promotion and funding of R&D that are managed by Scottish Enterprise. The Scottish public agency has supported more than 10,000 companies in their innovation processes. Scotland has 8 innovation centres and the highest concentration of universities in Europe with 19. It is also one of the main destinations for R&D investment projects in the United Kingdom.
The promotion of the relationship between Catalonia and Scotland’s businesses is one of the priorities for of Catalonia Trade & Investment’s Foreign in London, from where different joint initiatives have been coordinated in the field of innovation and technological cooperation. This collaboration is materialized, for example, through the participation of Catalonia and Scotland on the European Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) of the European Commission, of which both Catalonia Trade & Investment and Scottish Enterprise are members and work together in sectorial groups, such as health, the environment, ICT or energy.
