Only three years old, the InnovPlantProtect CoLAB is today a national and international reference in the research of innovative bio-based solutions, based on a practice capable of responding to the challenges of today. That is, promoting safer, smarter and more productive crops that are resistant to climate change and more environmentally friendly. Moreover, the fact of being based in Elvas has already allowed more than 40 highly qualified professionals, and their respective families, to settle in the interior of the country, thus contributing to the valorisation of the territory. A clear example of the promotion of environmental sustainability, territorial cohesion and development, creation of qualified employment and attraction of investment.
Led by the University NOVA of Lisbon, through the Institute of Chemical and Biological Technology (ITQB NOVA) and the research unit GREEN-IT, InnovPlantProtect also has close collaboration with other national, local and regional institutions. Among them, the National Institute of Agricultural and Veterinary Research - which provided the facilities and assumes the vice-presidency - and the City Council which, with the support of the Alentejo Regional Coordination and Development Commission, financed the CoLAB's requalification works, stand out.
In operation since 2019, InnovPlantProtect will now have facilities that, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, will allow it to increase and improve the quality of the research.
The inauguration ceremony is scheduled for this Thursday, July 28th, and will be attended by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato, the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, and the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Maria do Céu Antunes.
Headquartered at the INIAV Elvas Innovation Pole, at Estrada de Gil Vaz, Apartado 72, in Elvas, it also has several reference entities in the national agricultural panorama as associates: National Association of Protein, Oilseed and Cereal Producers (ANPOC), National Association of Corn and Sorghum Producers (ANPROMIS), Casa do Arroz, National Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Producers' Organisations (FNOP), Alentejo Centre for Agricultural and Agro-Food Biotechnology (CEBAL), Fertiprado, Bayer and Syngenta.
More information about InnovPlantProtect here