The platform that will lead innovation in healthcare from the North has been launched
The Regional Platform for Smart Specialisation (PREI) in Life and Health Sciences, called https://bridges4health.pt/, was officially launched on the 3rd of March, at Espaço Vita in Braga, bringing together more than 100 participants from 43 institutions representing the scientific, clinical, business and institutional ecosystem of the Northern region.
The event marked the formal start of a strategic initiative that aims to support the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N) in strengthening innovation, accelerating technology transfer and consolidating the region's position as a national and European benchmark in the areas of health and life sciences.
Co-funded by the European Union through the NORTE 2030 Regional Programme and Portugal 2030, the platform is coordinated by the Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde da Universidade do Porto (i3S) and the Centro Clínico Académico de Braga (2CA-Braga), in collaboration with the Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas (UCIBIO) of the Faculdade de Farmácia da U.Porto (FFUP) and the Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina (CBQF) of the Universidade Católica do Porto.
In the opening session, the president of 2CA-Braga reinforced the collaborative vision of the consortium: "The name of the project says it all: Bridges4Health. That is exactly what we are building here with the relevant actors." Jorge Pedrosa also stressed the importance of links between academic centres, local health units and industry, highlighting the need for knowledge sharing throughout the value chain — from applied science to entrepreneurship.
In turn, the director of i3S, Claudio Sunkel, highlighted the strategic framework of the platform: “We responded to a challenge from CCDR-N to anchor investments regionally. The four areas of this PREI [Precision Medicine, Clinical Research, Microbiome and Health, and Biomedical Devices and Technologies] intersect with each other and include 27 strategic actions to be developed over the next 36 months,” he revealed.
He also mentioned that Bridges4Health partners will submit proposals for action to CCDR-N by the summer and that international conferences are planned to reinforce the global dimension of the initiative.
“We call for regional mobilisation around this project.”
Representing CCDR-N, Cláudia Guimarães highlighted the economic and social impact of the project. "This platform will mobilise existing scientific and technological potential and strengthen the region's position by defining investment priorities and high-impact projects," she explained.
She emphasised CCDR-N's commitment to a more strategic, coordinated and results-oriented innovation policy, calling for regional mobilisation.
The session included strategic presentations, round tables and co-creation workshops dedicated to the four priority areas: Precision Medicine, Clinical Research, Microbiome and Health, and Biomedical Devices and Technologies. At the end of the event, contributions from all participants were collected and presented, namely the priorities identified in their respective areas and several concrete proposals for innovation in health.
