News & Events

white plant

NEWS

InPP took part in the kick-off meeting for the European PROSPER project, held on October 2 and 3 in Pavia, Italy. In attendance were the director of the Monitoring and Diagnostics Department, Ilaria Marengo, and the project manager, Bruno Orrico.

PROSPER's main objective is to transform European agriculture by valorizing highly resilient “orphan” legumes - forgotten crops, but full of potential to face the climate and food challenges of the future.

The project promotes sustainable, innovative practices adapted to different agricultural realities.

Over the two days, 27 partners from 13 countries met for presentations, in-depth discussions and strategic talks about the project's next steps.

We are excited about what comes next, certain that this journey will be more than a collaboration - it will be a true cooperation within an exceptional team.

Join us and keep up to date with all the news from the PROSPER Project!

InnovPlantProtect (InPP) was present at the project launch meeting BioLivingLABS - Bioeconomia ao Serviço da Sustentabilidade dos Territórios do Interior (Bioeconomy at the Service of the Sustainability of Inland Territories), which took place on October 1st at the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco (IPCB).

Funded by COMPETE 2023, the BioLivingLABS project, led by MORE CoLAB - Laboratório Colaborativo Montanhas de Investigação, in partnership with the InPP, the IPCB, from AQUAVALOR and the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB).

This project's mission is to add value to the low-density territories in the north, center and south of the country by demonstrating and economically boosting the work carried out by the partners - through the creation, demonstration and application of products, processes and services resulting from joint research.

Four living laboratories will be created (Living Labs) in the innovation hubs of Mirandela, Douro, Covilhã and Elvas, which they intend to promote:

  • the transfer of knowledge;
  • technology demonstration;
  • strategic roadmapping and
  • the protection of intellectual property.

BioLivingLABS strengthens the link between academia, business and society, driving innovation and sustainability.

Expected impact:
Over the course of 24 months, and with Living Labs dedicated to sectors such as olive groves and olive oil, vineyards and wine, fruit and cereals, legumes, among others, the project will contribute to:

  • increase regional competitiveness;
  • promote sustainable practices and
  • responding to the environmental, social and economic challenges facing inland territories.

More news about this new project soon.

On September 25, InnovPlantProtect (InPP) was present at the National Exhibition of Blue Bioeconomy Pact Projects, held at the Port of Leixões Cruise Terminal, for the exhibition session of the Algae Vertical project, led by PhytoBloom by Necton.

InPP, leader of sub-project 6 - Agriculture, was represented by department director Cristina Azevedo and executive director António Saraiva, who presented some of the new algae-based biosolutions that our team and partners are developing.

There were more than 300 participants and 80 entities, including companies, research centers and political decision-makers. The Opening Conference was attended by the Chairman of Inovamar's General and Supervisory Board, José Soares dos Santos, and round tables were held on the future of the blue economy in Portugal.

Algae Vertical explores the biotechnological potential of algae in sectors as diverse as food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and energy.

Find out more about the Algae Vertical Project here

EVENTS

International Day for the Fascination of Plants 2022 celebrated in Elvas on May 19th

To celebrate Fascination of Plants Day 2022, InnovPlantProtect (InPP) promotes the 1st Meeting of Ciência Viva Clubs of secondary schools in the district of Portalegre, tomorrow, May 19th, with the support of Estremoz Living Science Center, and a guided tour of InPP's new laboratories. The afternoon ends with a visit to Elvas Municipal Garden, This is the largest green space in the city and has a remarkable biodiversity in terms of tree species.

The following secondary schools are taking part in the initiative Mouzinho da Silveira, from Portalegre, and D. Sancho II of Elvas, which has just formed its Ciência Viva na Escola Club. InPP will welcome a total of 42 students and seven teachers to its facilities. The tour of the laboratories, led by CoLAB's executive director, Pedro Fevereiro, will be followed by a short presentation on the charms and importance of plant biodiversity. Then, at 3.45 p.m., the students and teachers will gather in the renovated InPP/ INIAV Auditorium for the Ciência Viva Club Meeting at the School.

The aim of this meeting is for the district's clubs to get to know each other and present the projects they have developed and plan to develop. The joint initiative between InPP, the Schools and CCV Estremoz is part of the national celebrations coordinated by the ITQB NOVA, The aim is to promote a culture of knowledge about the importance of plants through the wonder that the plant world provides, whether at home, in the street, in the countryside or on the beach, in the forest, in the orchard, in the vegetable garden, in the agricultural field or in the mountains.

O Fascination of Plants Day is an initiative of the European Plant Science Organization (EPSO), which takes place every two years on May 18th. It is coordinated at national level by the Portuguese Society of Plant Physiology and ITQB NOVA, with events across the country.

#FoPD #PlantsDay #PlantDay

How do you innovate in the interior of Portugal? Yes, it's possible! Pedro February explains everything today, May 17th, at Science’22 Meeting. Tomorrow, the 18th, Cristina Azevedo e David Learmonth talks on the development of plant protection products for the control of phytopathogens and on the encapsulation of biopesticides.

The executive director of InnovPlantProtect (InPP) is one of the speakers at the session “From Lab to Fab: stories of innovation”, organized by ANI - National Innovation Agency, The event starts at 2pm in Room 5C of the Lisbon Congress Center. Pedro Fevereiro will demonstrate the case of the Elvas CoLAB, which operates in the heart of the Alto Alentejo region.

Tomorrow, the director of the Department of New Biopesticides and the director of the Department of Formulations and Process Development at InPP will speak at the session entitled “Sustainable Production and Consumption IV”, which will take place in Auditorium 3, from 11.30am to 1pm.

InnovPlantProtect (InPP) is celebrating National Scientists Day 2022, May 16, by challenging its researchers to complete the sentence “A scientist is...”

...someone who gets up in the morning with the desire to discover something new and the perseverance to carry on even when that doesn't happen.

Cristina Azevedo

...a methodical person who is determined to look for small clues and put them together to make it clear what natural phenomena are.

Pedro Rosa

... a tireless explorer.

Miguel Carvalho

(Left image: Jonathan Petersson | Pexels)

...someone who answers questions about how our Universe works, using experimentation as a way of investigating it, and who establishes verifiable theories about how it works.

Pedro February

...someone who finds answers to questions that may only be of interest to a niche group of people or, on the other hand, contribute to the maintenance of the human species, namely by finding solutions to guarantee food for the world's growing population, as we try to do every day at InPP. Regardless of the “size” of the issue, being a scientist is always a huge challenge.

Cláudia Rato da Silva

... the deeper reality of the superficial physical occurrence. In this context, one of my most recent works{ explores the specific adaptations of symptomatic and asymptomatic vines to esca, a disease as old as vine growing!

Rupesh Singh

*Goufo, P., Singh, R. K. and Cortez, I. (2021) Metabolites Differentiating Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Grapevine Plants (Vitis vinifera L ‘Malvasia-Fina’) Infected with Esca Complex Disease-Associated Fungi. Biol. Life Sci. Forum 2022, 11(1), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/IECPS2021-11923