The Hub Azul Portugal network has just launched the Hub Azul Venture Building, a new program designed to transform results of scientific research into market-ready solutions, accelerating validation with real users and the creation of business projects in the Blue Economy sector, as announced in a press release.
According to the same source, the program targets researchers, R&D teams, faculty members, doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers and research units linked to the network or partner institutions, that have technology, intellectual property or early-stage scientific results with potential for commercial value, even without a registered patent.
Applications are open until March 20 and participation is free. Up to 10 projects will be selected for the Startup Studio, an intensive 10-week program that combines online sessions tailored to the academic calendar with a final in-person event, in the first half of 2026, where the teams will present their projects to partners, investors and sector stakeholders.
“Venture building is, in practice, the bridge between the laboratory and the market: it helps researchers in the process of transforming scientific knowledge into tested solutions with commercial application. When that bridge exists, the country gains competitiveness, creates companies and skilled jobs, and accelerates responses to concrete challenges of the sea, from energy to food and environmental monitoring,” says Gonçalo Faria, Lead Manager of the Hub Azul Network at Fórum Oceano.
Structured in weekly sprints, the Startup Studio will focus on key areas such as customer discovery, business model, prototyping and pitch preparation. The teams will have access to specialized mentorship in the technological, market, regulatory, and intellectual property dimensions, including support for evaluating and protecting IP, as well as direct connections to industrial partners, investors and hubs of the Hub Azul Network. Technical supervision will be provided by Hub Azul in partnership with the collaborative innovation consultancy Beta-i.
The Hub Azul Venture Building forms part of a broader set of initiatives aimed at boosting the national innovation ecosystem in the Blue Economy, supported by the infrastructures and services of the hubs of the Hub Azul Network. Among these initiatives, the identification of 45 innovation challenges to be launched during March, ideation workshops across the country between March and May, and an acceleration program for national and international startups currently in the application phase stand out.
More information and application conditions here here.
