Gran Canaria will have the world’s first High-Tech Marine Incubator boosted by the 1.6 million Euro backing of the Cabildo and Incyde

Gran Canaria will have the world’s first High-Tech Marine Incubator and the only one aimed specifically at the blue economy, out of the 12 incubators for different areas in Europe. The director of the Incyde Foundation, Javier Collado, confirmed this to the president of the Gran Canaria Island Council, Antonio Morales, on signing the agreement that will make it possible to hold this infrastructure in 2020 that will position Gran Canaria “on the world map for blue biotechnology”.

Raúl García Brink, who heads the Corporation for the Economic Development of Gran Canaria, SPEGC, explained that there will be an investment of 1.6 million Euros:in addition to almost 500,000 Euros from the Cabildo, Incyde (the Chamber Institute for the Creation and Development of Business) will provide 1.1 million Euros and its director congratulated the Cabildofor the quality of the project it presented which achieved the financing.

The High-Tech Marine Incubator, promoted by the Economic Development of Gran Canaria, will be located within the Experimental Area of Arinaga which will cover a surface area in excess of 70,000 m2and, benefiting from a 4.1 million Euro investment (including the 1.6 million for the Incubator), will have a capacity to house 20 businesses and create 60 direct jobs. The object is for the technology to be transferable to any business anywhere in the world. In addition, once those that set up business in the incubator become consolidated, they can move to a different space in the Area.

“This incubator does not belong to the Canary Islands, it belongs to Europe and is open to all of Europe”, highlighted Mr Collado who, stressing the importance of the centre there will be in Gran Canaria, pointed out that Incyde represents over 80 Chambers of Commerce in Spain and helps SMEs with large projects funded by the EU.

The most advance technology, in Gran Canaria

Building this High-Tech Incubator will allow SMEs to access the most advanced technology developed the world over in the field of blue economy, “to incorporate it into their daily work, grow and create jobs”, explained Javier Collado, as the idea is that high-tech “is not only for large businesses”.

The president stressed that the Cabildois working to convert Gran Canaria into a world centre of reference in the blue technology sphere, and so an initiative was launched, Bioasis, (Blue Biotechnology and Aquaculture Platform) to which must be added the work carried out by research centres such as the Canary Islands Technology Institute or Ecoaqua, within the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and that done by the Spanish Algae Bank located in Taliarte, Gran Canaria, as combining efforts is key in the work to achieve this objective.