On 18 May, Tec Labs, the catalyzer of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of CIÊNCIAS ULisboa, celebrated its 37th anniversary with the event “37 Years of Innovation – The Ideal Temperature for Ideas to Grow”.

The programme was varied, and one of the highlights was the panel discussion “The trajectory of spin-offs: key challenges and lessons learnt”, which featured, amongst others, startups at different stages of growth, such as Vawlt, led and co-founded by Alysson Bessani, LASIGE integrated member. Topics discussed included funding, market validation, regulation, technological development, team building, motivations for creating spin-offs, the realities of transforming scientific research into viable businesses, the balance between maintaining scientific rigour and adapting to the fast pace of industry, and the importance of stepping out of one’s comfort zone to bring scientific innovation closer to society.

Other researchers from LASIGE, such as Vinicius Cogo (LASIGE Executive Committee) and António Casimiro (Deputy Director of Ciências ULisboa) were in attendance to support Tec Labs’ performance, acknowledging the merit of their work and taking the opportunity to network at the event, which brought together researchers, entrepreneurs, students, start-ups, investors and partners from the innovation ecosystem dedicated to entrepreneurship, scientific innovation and collaboration, reinforcing the role of universities in transforming knowledge into real-world impact.