The Prime Minister this Friday considered the health area one of the most innovative in Portugal and emphasized that the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) allocates 230 million euros for research in this sector.
This point of view was conveyed by António Costa through a message he sent to the inauguration session of the new building of the Institute of Experimental and Technological Biology (iBET), in Oeiras, which has more than 30 laboratories and in which it is estimated that more than 150 jobs of work.
After classifying iBET as a “reference center for biotechnology at the international level”, the Prime Minister referred that in 2022 – “the year in which a record number of patent applications were registered in Portugal, a total of 312 -, companies and Portuguese inventors have filed their patent applications for pharmaceutical products with Increased 85.7% compared to 2021, making health one of the most innovative areas in the country.”
“And in the past 20 years, 18 of the national patent applications had iBET as one of the applicants”completed.
According to António Costa, the transformation of the health and biopharmaceutical sector is also being driven by the PRR, “with more than €230 million earmarked for four mobilizing agendas”.
As a whole they are “innovative projects carried out by consortia between companies, research institutes, universities and public institutions, which aim to accelerate the structural transformation of the Portuguese economy. These four projects in the health field will create more than 520 jobs, of which 489 will be highly qualified, which will play the role of Portugal in research and innovation in this field, allowing it to continue developing and producing innovative medicines and developing technological and more efficient solutions for medicine”supported the leader of the executive branch.
At that time, António Costa pointed out that iBET “participates in two PRR mobilization agendas in the agri-food sector, which together represent an investment of more than 146 million euros aimed at the development of sustainable organic products and innovative processes”.
In fact, he considered that these investments “have an effective return for the country in several dimensions: in the volume and quality of employment, in the export capacity and in the increase in value added generated by the economy”.
“Investments that create an increasingly sophisticated business fabric, with more and more skilled jobs and a source of high added value, that will enable the country to continue its path of growth and convergence with the European Union, guarantee better wages and maintain its leading position in the field of innovation”he added.
Still regarding iBET, António Costa said that, after more than 30 years since its opening, “Continues to grow in Portugal”.
“A sign of Portugal’s growing assertiveness in health research and innovation, resulting in the creation of new products and medicines marketed in more than 150 countries, strengthening our exports”defended the prime minister.
Source: DN
