The FPCM celebrated its 20th anniversary in a commemorative event at its facilities in Cantoblanco on Friday, November 19. The event was chaired by the rector of the Complutense University of Madrid, Joaquín Goyache, and the rector of the Autonomous University of Madrid, Amaya Mendikoetxea, top representatives of the Foundation and the universities that created the Park in 2001. The event, which coincided with International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, was attended by the Minister of Education, Universities, Science and Spokesperson of the Community of Madrid, Enrique Ossorio, and more than fifty representatives of the regional innovation ecosystem.
Ossorio highlighted the Park’s successful model and its prominent position in incubation, business creation and direct employment in the region, putting it as an example of the necessary public-private collaboration. An example “to create a more sustainable and more resilient society“, as highlighted at the opening of the event by the Vice-President of the FPCM, Mendikoetxea. For his part, Goyache, current President of the FPCM, closed the event by underlining the commitment of both universities to grow the Park, for which they would like another headquarters at the Complutense University.
Round table: 20 years of support for entrepreneurship
Two round tables were held during the event. Scientists from some companies in the Park, created “by and for entrepreneurs“, as stressed by the General Director of the FPCM, Pilar Gil, underlined. Enrique Samper of NIMGenetics highlighted the “key role of the Park for the development and growth” of his company. Carlos Romero, from the company SmartHAPS of the European Space Agency’s BIC programme, agreed with this, for whom “the support of an institution like the Park, with its entire ecosystem and image, is key to a start-up“. For María Urbano, from EvoEnzyme, there is a lack of incubation spaces in Madrid with laboratories for technology-based companies such as those offered by the Park. All these scientists turned entrepreneurs “are the optimistic future of our society,” Gil stressed.
Patrons’ Roundtable
The second round table, moderated by the Director General of Research and Technological Innovation of the Community of Madrid, Ana Isabel Cremades, was attended by representatives of the Park’s Board of Trustees, made up of the two universities, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT) and the Madrid City Council. Ángel Niño, Councillor for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the consistory, wondered why all the people of Madrid do not know about the Park and the work it carries out, and urged to “transfer scientific research to the ordinary citizen so that the whole society can deepen its knowledge“.
In this line of satisfaction with the work of the Park, and the need to take new steps so that it continues to grow, the rest of the members of the table agreed. Félix Zamora, Vice-Rector for Transfer, Innovation and Culture of the UAM explained it graphically: “the Park is a paradisiacal island for companies; the current problem of the Park is not that it does not have companies, but that they do not leave“, in reference to the lack of spaces in the Community of Madrid where companies can do their scaling.
20 years providing innovation and solutions
In these 20 years of life, the Foundation has incubated more than 320 scientific-technological based companies, consolidating itself as the main incubator of this type in the region. Currently the Park is home to 80 companies from all sectors, employing more than 1100 workers. “Today we can assure that the Madrid Science Park has come of age, with a mature and consolidated model and ecosystem,” said its General Director, Pilar Gil.
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the companies in the health and ICT sector incubated in the Park have shown the value of entrepreneurship in science and technology, creating solutions to monitor and alleviate the effects of the health crisis. A pandemic that has been the cause of the commemorative event being postponed for health reasons, as it was originally scheduled for the Park’s anniversary, on June 6.
You can see the full video of the event here:
