There is a new public tender open for the development of the HUB AZUL Leixões (Leixões Blue Hub) – a new research and development (R&D) infrastructure for the Blue Economy; the selected company will benefit from a €7.2M budget.
The call, already published in the Diário da República and in the Official Journal of the European Union on September 23, determines that companies must apply until November 4 – with an execution period of 11 months.
The tender procedure (19676/2024) focuses on the development of a main hangar on the ocean basin (multipurpose central tank), whose depth can reach 30 meters; the endeavour must be completed by the end of 2025. The contracting authority is INESC TEC, as leader of the HUB AZUL consortium.
Installed specifically in a port area, this new hotspot brings together a set of competences in the areas of ocean engineering and blue biotechnology, whose expansion and sharing boosts the development of relevant synergies, fundamental for innovation processes in the ocean sector and for ocean health monitoring.
In this sense, the HUB’s main resources are marine technologies for offshore development; the engineering test of materials and systems (capable of withstanding ocean conditions); the establishment of a biobank of national marine resources and blue biotechnology laboratory; the scientific diving centre; and the promotion of ocean literacy.
You can consult the Bidding Documents here.
The HUB AZUL LEIXÔES – I is an initiative promoted by a group of organisations, led by INESC TEC, which includes the Administration of the Ports of the Douro, Leixões and Viana do Castelo (APDL), the Municipality of Matosinhos, the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), the Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (INEGI) and Fórum Oceano.
The HUB AZUL Leixões is supported by public funds from the PRR – Recovery and Resilience Plan.
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