More than 80 laboratories, 100 research groups, colleges, a hospital, a scientific and technological park. An ecosystem with a total focus on health is forming in Porto Alegre, BioHub, led by the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), with official launch scheduled for October 10. From a set of initiatives, spread across the campus and connecting countless professionals, BioHub PUCRS intends to stand out in promoting innovation and the culture of entrepreneurship in the life sciences area, housing startups and offering working conditions and cooperation.

One of the first initiatives of the project is the opening of the Health Plus Innovation Center, a coworking space with 650 square meters and 120 seats located in one of the buildings of the Tecnopuc complex, the university's scientific and technological park. Its main objective will be to accelerate business and be open to all interested parties, not just students, professors and researchers linked to the university.

- We want this entire health ecosystem to generate new businesses that qualify the health of our population, reflected in the public and private networks. We will create a space for the generation of startups and connect talents. The health area is very strong - says Jorge Luis Nicolas Audy, superintendent of Innovation and Development at PUCRS.

Partner of BioHub, the accelerator of startups Grow + will be responsible for managing the Health Plus Innovation Center, which will house startups in different stages, from the incipient to the most advanced. Contracts will be signed with sponsors, such as healthcare operators and laboratories.

- The Health Plus Innovation Center will have activities focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, digital health. It is the engine of the project - says Cristiano Englert, doctor and co-founder of Grow +.

Inspiration

Visits to reference centers, in Brazil and abroad, were carried out during the planning. Audy says she visited Eretz.bio, a startup incubator at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, in São Paulo, Open D? Or, from Instituto D? Or de Pesquisa e Ensino, in Rio de Janeiro, and the Karolinska Institute, in Sweden .

- We get ideas and inspirations from successful cases - comments.

Another attraction of BioHub is already in operation: it is Usalab, within Tecnopuc, a simulation environment, with an investment of more than R $ 2 million, which makes it possible to conduct tests for startups that develop products in the hospital technology. Audy also points out that, as of this academic semester, the School of Medicine is offering a discipline of technology and innovation applied to health.

With international recognition in research, the Brain Institute (InsCer) is one of the main bases of BioHub. Jaderson Costa da Costa, director of InsCer, explains that the campus will be a great laboratory for experiments.

- We will be able to test something new in the oncology area of ​​Hospital São Lucas, at InsCer, in Parque Esportivo - exemplifies Costa, ensuring that everything will be conducted within strict ethical and scientific standards. - We are interdisciplinary. We will have several views, such as that of a doctor, that of a psychologist, that of a nurse and that of a designer, which will allow for improvement.

The director of InsCer thinks it is impossible to predict what direction the project will take in the future and compares it to that of InsCer itself, inaugurated in 2012, which will have its area tripled in 2020.

- We knew we were starting to be unprecedented and disruptive, but we couldn't assess the proportions at that moment - recalls Costa. - In BioHub, there will be interactions over which we will no longer have control. And that is positive. I cannot measure the relationship of the engineer by arguing with the social worker or with the doctor and the nurse. Something will come up. This dialogue, these looks, these conversations are immeasurable, intangible, wonderful - complete.