Malaga, March 11, 2024.- Transfiere, the European Meeting on Science, Technology, and Innovation, will drive the traction of over 500 companies and organisations from the R&D&I ecosystem in its 2024 edition, bringing together professionals from over 20 countries. This was announced today by the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre; the Secretary General for Innovation of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Spanish Government, Teresa Riesgo; the Secretary General for Research and Innovation of the Council for University, Research and Innovation of the Andalusian Regional Government, Antonio Posadas, and the Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, Employment and Entrepreneurship of the University of Castilla-La Mancha and Executive Secretary of Crue R&D&I, Ángela González. The presentation to media and agents of the national innovation system took place at the Madrid headquarters of the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), whose vice-president for Innovation and Transfer, Ana Castro, welcomed the event.

Transfiere, que tendrá lugar del 20 al 22 de marzo en FYCMA (Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga), alcanza su decimotercera edición con una nueva puesta en escena que pone en el centro a un tejido empresarial con fuerza competitiva con el objetivo de visibilizar a las empresas como pilar del desarrollo innovador.

Transfiere, to be held from March 20th to 22nd in FYCMA (Trade Fair and Congress Centre of Malaga), reaches its thirteenth edition with a new staging that focuses on a competitive business fabric to highlight companies as pillars of innovative development.

This will be under the umbrella of ‘Transfiere Tracciona’ initiative, a novelty in this edition that brings together the innovation of companies, intermediate innovation organisations, academia and public administrations to promote synergies and public-private and private-private collaboration. Thus, the forum demonstrates its capacity to drive the knowledge economy, where intermediary innovation organisations play a crucial role with the participation of clusters, platforms, parks, technology centres and institutes.

It will be through the presence of the State Research Agency, the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE), the National Association of CEEI (ANCES), the Spanish Federation of Technology Centres (Fedit), the National Federation of Clusters and AEIs (FENAIC), Innova-IRV Ricardo Valle Institute of Innovation, the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation, or the programme of ideation and acceleration of startups APTENISA.

This participation highlights the fundamental role played by innovation intermediary organisations in the promotion and transfer of knowledge to improve the innovative competitiveness of the national business fabric. In addition to having a specific space in the exhibition area, they will also play a prominent role in the content programme.

In this regard, Transfiere is committed to talent and innovative entrepreneurship, offering different opportunities for positioning and accessing real funding options at the forum. Over 75 start-ups have already registered for the different proposals, including the Open Call for Deep Tech Start-ups, coordinated together with the Enterprise Europe Network (ENN) and the European Business Angels Network (EBAN). The initiative, which has received 82 applications of which five have been selected, will allow start-ups to increase their visibility to investors, thus facilitating access to funding.

The event will feature the participation of over 40 investors with a specific agenda allowing them to learn first-hand about the projects of participating startups or the 28 prototypes exhibited in the exhibition area, presented by research groups and spinoffs in the ‘Research Center’ space.

Another key player in Transfiere is academia, represented through the participation of 48 universities from the national territory. This participation is driven by the collaboration with CRUE Spanish Universities, which annually convenes the research groups of Spanish universities through the OTRI Network to enable the transfer of knowledge.

It is worth noting that the University of Antwerp will be the international academic entity invited to the 2024 edition of Transfiere. As a novelty in Transfiere’s internationalisation, the participation of this Belgian institution has been incorporated, highlighting the importance of the university contribution to knowledge transfer. In addition, experts from other foreign universities such as Algarve (Portugal) and Concepción (Chile) will also be present.

Greater European agenda on innovation and knowledge transfer

Over 440 experts linked to innovation will participate in the ‘International Innovation Programme’, which will bring together all the content of the forum with over 80 panels and specialised presentations in five main spaces – Agora, Science Room, Innovation Room, Research Center and Andalucía Knowledge.

The thematic areas of this programme will revolve around the territoriality of innovation, data sovereignty, public procurement of innovation (PPI), entrepreneurship and open innovation, investment and financing, as well as scientific communication and dissemination.

The 2024 edition reserves a significant space for the territorial innovation map in Spain, firmly committed to addressing initiatives that enable the adaptation of territories to new technological situations and further facilitating their dynamism and increasing competitiveness through the interaction of agents, resources, and infrastructures. Thus, Transfiere brings together and shares different territorial innovation policies through the participation of 12 autonomous communities, including Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Valencia, Extremadura, Galicia, Balearic Islands, Madrid, Navarra, and Basque Country.

Furthermore, Transfiere is the chosen framework for innovation-driven companies and institutions to hold their annual meetings, calls, and parallel activities, which this year will amount to around 40.

Regarding awards and calls, the IX Transfiere Journalism Award for supporting scientific, technological, and innovative communication recognises the best contributions from the journalistic field to the dissemination of science, technology, and innovation, receiving 26 submissions this year. The winners will be announced during the second day of the event. Additionally, this edition will recognise the best participating company for its innovation and trajectory.

Transfiere is organised by the Malaga City Council; the Ministry of University, Research and Innovation of the Regional Government of Andalusia, and the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities. FYCMA assumes the executive direction of the event. Acting as Silver Partners are the Salamanca City Council, the Community of Madrid, the Andalusian Technological Corporation (CTA), Cosentino, the Provincial Government of Malaga, the madri+d Knowledge Foundation, the University of Malaga, the municipal companies Emasa and Limpieza de Malaga, and the Investor Office-Málaga Open for Business.