“The Consistent Proximity of the Team”: what’s up at BioBIP

Founded in 2015 by the Polytechnic of Portalegre, BioBIP has become a key player in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in Alto Alentejo. With state-of-the-art facilities and a strong sense of community, it supports startups that align with the region’s potential. We spoke with its director, Artur Romão, to learn more about its journey and impact.

This content is available in Portuguese.

– How did BioBIP come about? What kind of projects do you incubate?

BioBIP – Bioenergy and Business Incubator of Portalegre – was created in 2015 as an initiative of the Polytechnic of Portalegre, based on the intersection of its wide-ranging competences in higher education for entrepreneurship, in which it was a pioneer, and in teaching and advanced research in the area of renewable energies and environmental valorization, constituting itself as a technology-based incubator, integrating a Bioenergy Centre.

We currently welcome all kinds of innovative projects, preferably technology-based, with high growth potential, related to the training areas and research domains of the Polytechnic of Portalegre, which use the region’s resources, or intend to use the Alto Alentejo territory as a laboratory for experimentation.

– Do you have any areas of specialization? What does your incubation model consist of?

While maintaining the original focus on projects that can contribute to energy and environmental sustainability, benefiting from the BioBIP Energy Experimentation Center and the Bioenergy Laboratory, BioBIP brings together other areas of preferential reception, such as design, information and communication technologies, health, also considering the availability of resources that it has had since 2023, with the entry into operation of the 2nd phase of BioBIP, after the expansion of its facilities, and the new laboratories: BioBIP Fablab (Digital Fabrication and Robotics Laboratory) and BioBIP LAAM (Audiovisual, Animation and Multimedia Laboratory).

At BioBIP we have the flexibility to implement different incubation models, according to the profile of our incubatees and the nature of the project or company, which can comprise three main phases – pre-incubation, incubation and business development – providing the specific support and resources needed to help promoters, from the conception of the idea to the sustainable implementation in the market; which can comprise physical incubation schemes, in our own space or in a coworking space, or virtual incubation.

– Can you tell us the story of a startup that made a difference in the incubator? And where has incubating with you made a difference?

In these eight years of life, there have been more than half a hundred projects and companies that have emerged, grown or developed with the support of BioBIP. As with our children – and I have four – it’s not possible to single any of them out. We devote the same amount of attention, affection and commitment to all of them and are equally delighted with their successes.

Naturally, since BioBIP is an incubator of the Polytechnic of Portalegre, the startups promoted by our students or graduates, as a result of ideas or initiatives generated here, increase our satisfaction. But this also happens when we see the companies we support contributing to the employability of our graduates, bringing back to the Alentejo entrepreneurs and professionals from this region who were in other parts of the world, attracting to this region valuable professionals from other countries who arrive here and adapt so easily, enriching the region.

The difference in the contribution to success, fortunately the vast majority, is essentially the result of the support of the entire BioBIP community, including that provided by the incubatees themselves, the proximity of the team, the ease of contact with students, graduates, teachers and researchers at the Polytechnic, as well as the physical infrastructure and laboratory resources.

– Failure is also part of the journey. What did you learn most from something that didn’t go well?

As an example, the BioBIP project itself had to be readjusted as a result of a reduction in the amount of funding compared to what was initially planned, which forced us to make an even greater effort to rationalize our resources and contain some of our initial ambition. However, this turned out to be an advantage, allowing us to reposition ourselves strategically, motivating us to create new, more innovative responses in other areas of specialization that the market and the region asked us for, and which turned out to be very successful.

– What is your incubator’s differentiating factor? In other words, what is unique about your incubator that enhances the success of the startups you incubate?

More than the physical resources, with current and extensive laboratory facilities in specific but complementary areas (Bioenergy, FabLab, LAAM); more than the location, in a quiet area, on the edge of a Natural Park (Serra de São Mamede), in a safe city with a high quality of life; more than the ease of relationship with all the players in the region; BioBIP’s main differentiating factor is based on the consistent proximity of its extended team, which includes the incubated entrepreneurs and promoters themselves, and all the almost 4000 members of the Portalegre Polytechnic community (teachers and researchers, students, technicians, support staff) from different areas of expertise.

– Community is one of the factors that distinguishes an incubator from an office center. How do you look after yours and what plans do you have to make it more cohesive and fertile?

We regularly organize various events and are often “surprised” by initiatives from the incubatees themselves, which help to strengthen the bonds between the members of the BioBIP community.

The Polytechnic of Portalegre, of which BioBIP is a part, has been certified (for a long time) in the area of Social Responsibility, also (more recently) in reconciling work and family life, and has been recognized with the Healthy Workplaces Award’24, which attests to our commitment in this area.

– Any news you’d like to share with us?

Based on the success of BioBIP, we were challenged by the Municipality of Portalegre to develop a project for a new incubator in a refurbished building in the city’s historic center. About a year and a half ago, we inaugurated C.BIP – a non-technological business incubator, geared towards companies in the cultural and creative industries, where we also set up the Alentejo Social Innovation Laboratory, thus extending our areas of intervention even further, as well as the potential synergies resulting from it, which we will try to make the most of.

ABOUT #INCUBXDISCOVERIES

#IncubXdiscoveries is Startup Portugal’s monthly feature that will help you discover Portuguese incubators. What projects they incubate, how they manage their community and what success stories they’ve had and future projects are some of the topics covered in these interviews.

If you’d like to find out more about BioBIP, either because you’d like to see your project incubated in this region or because you’d like to establish a partnership, contact the Startup Portugal team at incubadoras@startupportugal.com.