The Asociación Canaria de Startups, Empresas de Base Tecnológica e Inversores Ángeles (EMERGE) inaugurates the Innovate Canarias pilot program to support Open Innovation in Canary Islands companies. This initiative is funded by the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment of the Canary Islands Government through the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI), with the collaboration of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of La Laguna.

This program aims to support Open Innovation processes through specialized training offered by EIT Hub Israel and scouting activities of technology startups that can solve the challenges posed by the selected companies.

Innovate Canarias is a commitment to strengthen private investment in R&D&I and to boost the innovative entrepreneurship ecosystem from an international perspective, connecting the knowledge and know-how of emerging technology companies with the needs of the regional productive fabric. It also aims to stimulate technological development and research transfer from universities and R&D&I centers in the archipelago.

Companies interested in this pilot project have until September 30, 2022 to submit their application and participate in the training that begins at the end of October. This training aims to improve the innovation capabilities of Canary Islands companies and prepare them for external R&D&I collaborations with local, national and international public and private actors.

EMERGE organized last July at the headquarters of the Presidency of the Government of the Canary Islands the conference “Emerging technology companies as a driver of innovation: Transforming collaboration between industry and knowledge agents” to explore the growing role that technology startups are playing in the process of knowledge transfer to industry and how companies, technology centers and universities are facilitating this strategy.

Technology start-ups as a driver of innovation: Transforming collaboration between industry and knowledge brokers

The Asociación Canaria de Startups, Empresas de Base Tecnológica e Inversores Ángeles (EMERGE), as a member of the Red Canaria de Centro de Innovación y Desarrollo Empresarial (Red CIDE) and in collaboration with the Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento y Empleo del Gobierno de Canarias through the Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI), organized on July 8 the event “Emerging technology companies as a driver of innovation: Transforming collaboration between industry and knowledge agents” at the headquarters of the Presidency of the Government of the Canary Islands in the capital of Gran Canaria. The main objective of the event was to promote the exchange of knowledge, know-how and technology transfer between the Canary Islands and the international ecosystem through the promotion of collaboration between large companies and technology startups, as well as to present its Open Innovation program: Innovate Canarias.

With the inauguration of the regional president, Mr. Ángel Víctor Torres and the director of the Economic Mission of the Embassy of Israel in Spain, Ms. Noa Heinemann is clearly committed to innovation in the Canary Islands, learning from more developed models such as Tel Aviv, the cradle of innovation in the East. Large and small companies from all over Spain, such as Endesa or the Agbar group, among others, participated in the event, as well as those that are most committed to innovation among local companies, such as Astican, Grupo Domingo Alonso, Grupo HD or Grupo Martínez, revealing their lines of action in R&D&I. Also present at the event were technology entrepreneurs and startups with projects that are a priori more modest but already deserving of worldwide attention, such as Nektium, Wimmic, Rethink Medical and Wooptix, among several others. The success of the event resulted in a packed room with the main innovation agents in the islands, highlighting researchers and technology entrepreneurs.