2023-07-02 05:02:42
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Deep tech means, in Spanish, deep technology. No platforms apps o Marketing: it is about the pure and simple development of companies based on scientific research. But it’s not easy to square those two worlds, and many still see oceans of distance between academia and business. “Scientists do not understand that, if there is no transfer of knowledge and if they do not have an impact, they are not going to finance them; and businessmen do not understand what scientists do”, affirms the president of the association ATG Synbio Spainthe man from Almeria Fran Antequerain an interview with EL ESPAÑOL in Malaga.
This community today aspires to become the bridge that unites these two worlds straddling Andalusia and Barcelona, where this weekend they celebrate their II International Congress with big names in the synthetic biology sector at an international level… But its origin is in 2020, during the last years of Antequera as a student at the University of Malaga. In fact, its headquarters are officially located in the Malaga neighborhood of El Palo.
The initiative arose, in the first place, as the UMA team in the world synthetic biology competition iGEM. Antequera recounts how the idea pivoted: “Little by little, we created this association that began to be a community of students from different fields, especially STEM —science, technology, engineering and mathematics—, but also with people from art, marketing etc. We had a common goal: grow all together from curiosity and transversality”.
The president of ATG Synbio, Fran Antequera, in a file image. ceded
But first of all, what is synthetic biology? The president of ATG Synbio defines it as “basically, using the rules of engineering in biology”, that is, “manipulating cells or living systems as if they were computer parts”. The potential of this newly emerging discipline is still incalculable. “Growth implies submitting to uncertainty and, if the University cannot afford it, we do feel comfortable daring“, says Fran Antequera.
After their university beginnings, they have become “an association of professionals, which organizes events and whose objective is to expand STEM entrepreneurship”. His objective is, in fact, to professionalize this work to be as useful as possible: “Most of the associations do not work. People treat it as if it were something extra and do not prioritize it. There are associations that are referents and act as if were a public body; super, super slow. If you’re not effective, it’s not going to have an impact. There are already too many associations that are not well connected and, directly, they are not achieving anything”, he reflects.
“Our goal is to have an impact. And how is it created? Well, for example, connecting different actors such as businessmen, investors, students and research academies”, he continues: “We are a network, an ecosystem that connects the different points“. Its planting goes through “building bridges” and, in addition, “accompanying the different actors to meet their objectives.”
ATG has in its team professionals from Extremadura, Madrid, Almería, Málaga or Barcelona; but it is precisely in this last city where they celebrate their great annual event this Saturday and Sunday, the II International Congress in Synthetic Biology, Steam Entrepeneurship and Social Innovation.
“Last year we held an event in Malaga, in May, and there were more speakers than attendees,” recalls Fran Antequera, who says that they have proposed to take a leap on this occasion. “We have called the best in the world, investors come, many startups... I think we have a very complete poster,” he says, after reviewing the different activities: “Another differential value, which I do not know exactly why, is that there are many people who do not have affection. There are people who come, even if it is on a Sunday, simply to push, even if their professional objective is not so aligned with the congress. They do it because they really are committed to our vision.”
They still have a lot of work to do in terms of pedagogy: “There are many people who are in academia and are frustrated, but they are part of the problem because they continue to see the company as the enemy,” says Antequera, who points out that they has resulted “much easier to find companies or investors that support us than scientists“. “Most scientists, literally, don’t have time for this. They are in themselves, in their research and in surviving. It is a slightly more passive role, while the company is much more pragmatic. They are other rules “, she analyzes.
His analysis is that independent laboratories of the University, effective synthetic biology accelerator programs, and funding are lacking. Especially in Andalusia, where it is “very difficult” to find startups with a clear scientific research basis: “In Almería or Málaga they still talk about bio-entrepreneurship or synthetic biology, and they don’t understand you. And maybe they are doing it, but they don’t call it that. I suppose they have to show our language a bit and we have it to adapt to them without losing the essence”.
Fran Antequera concludes this interview, therefore, with an appeal: “If this interview with him resonates with any person in biotechnology or another STEM discipline, that speaks to us. After all, an ecosystem is stronger when the network that composes it is stronger.”
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