Ignition Program - Training program in entrepreneurship

An 112-hour training programme developed by Porto Business School in the context of the BIOPOLIS Project, and organised in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley Innovation Group.

This multidisciplinary initiative has the mission of preparing the participants to launch their own start-ups, both university spin-offs and market-led ventures, is free of charge, and is a great opportunity for all researchers regardless of their career level.

Training is provided by top professors and experienced industry and entrepreneurial system managers, from the founders of the Berkeley Innovation Group in California and the most recognized PBS professors, to global, national and foreign speakers and to the most relevant investors of venture capital funds or business angels operating in Portugal. 

The content was designed in order to enable participants to effectively launch their businesses, through a spin-off or start-up created for this purpose, and even find the necessary funding to carry out their projects. The Ignition Programme is intended for academics and researchers and other types of people who, individually or institutionally, work in the areas of activity of the BIOPOLIS project, and in particular in one of the three strategic pillars of BIOPOLIS, namely: 1) Ecological Assessment and Monitoring; 2) Ecosystem function, services and restoration; 3) Agrobiodiversity and Sustainable Food Systems.

In addition to CIBIO researchers, who have priority, the participants of the Ignition Program "Science-Based Business for a Sustainable World” are:

a) Researchers, scientists or other types of people who somehow have access to innovation and knowledge and want to move forward with its commercialization, creating or not a new company;

b) Founders of start-ups or entrepreneurs who plan to create a new company to promote and commercialize innovation resulting from R&D processes, namely in an area of research framed within the scope of activity of the BIOPOLIS project;

c) Managers and other people qualified for the management of companies and who intend to be entrepreneurs, through a partnership with researchers or others who have access to innovation that can give rise to new products or services to be launched on the market.

The training program will start in the last week of January 2023 and will run until the end of May 2023, over a period of 16 weeks. It can be attended in person, which we will give preference to, or remotely, through an online platform. Exceptionally, module 1 will be exclusively online, and will take place two afternoons per week. The remaining modules take place 1 full day per week.

- Module 1 (February) – The right mindset for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

- Module 2 (March) – Developing consistent managerial skills

- Module 3 (March/April) – Getting to the market and reaching the customers you need

- Module 4 (April/May) – The best alternatives to fund your project

The training will be given entirely in English and is completely free for participants.

Please apply at https://ignitionpbs.pt. If you are a member of CIBIO-InBIO, please inform the Knowledge Transfer Officer, Sandra Aresta, of your intention to participate.