NOTRE presented during an INTERREG EUROPE webinar!
On 15 October 2024, our partners from Fomento San Sebastian took part in the Interreg Europe webinar on "Supporting health-tech innovation and SMEs: Key learnings". During this webinar, Irene Murillo, Innovation and Competitiveness projects officer at Fomento San Sebastian, had the opportunity to present NOTRE and one the good practices identified in their city: the “Technology Voucher Program in collaboration with Biogipuzkoa HRI (R&D Unit of Hospital Donostia)”
The example of Fomento San Sebastián and their technology voucher program
Fomento San Sebastián, a municipal organization promoting local innovation, collaborates with Biogipuzkoa on the Technology Voucher Program. This program connects start-ups and small businesses in San Sebastián with local technology centers, making advanced services, like biotechnology research, more accessible to them and supporting competitive growth.
The program offers annual vouchers for selected innovative projects, with funding shared between Fomento, Biogipuzkoa, and the participating company. Projects that receive funding have six months to complete their work, and they go through a detailed review and reporting process.
Impact and Recommendations
Since its launch in 2016, this program in collaboration with Biogipuzkoa has supported 32 projects in the health sector, with €353,500 distributed in grants. These projects have reached important milestones, such as lab testing, prototyping, and clinical trials.
This program is part of a broader framework where a total of 7 technology centers in the city provide support to start-ups and SMEs through different technologies and sectors.
Key recommendations for the program's success include maintaining strong collaboration with technology centers and organizing information sessions to guide local businesses. Since its beginning in 2014, the Technology Voucher Program has issued over 335 vouchers, totalling €3.9 million in funding, establishing San Sebastián as an innovative hub in healthy aging.
The feedback from our speaker on this webinar
“Participation in the webinars organised by Interreg Europe is a very valuable framework both to be able to present the work done with good practices such as the “Technology Voucher Program in collaboration with Biogipuzkoa HRI” but also, and perhaps more important in the capacity building process, to explain the key learnings and the potential for replicability that this type of initiatives can have in other regions and cities across Europe”. - Irene Murillo
Find out more about the other presentations of this webinar and the key learnings of that day: https://www.interregeurope.eu/find-policy-solutions/webinar/supporting-health-tech-innovation-and-smes-key-learnings