USJ has big plans for biotechnology and the blue economy
The University of Saint Joseph wants to merge China’s cutting-edge oceanic technologies with Portugal’s sustainable approach to marine farming, right here in Macao.
Macao could become home to a marine biotechnology hub where companies from China and Portugal work together on projects relating to the blue economy, Lusa reports.
The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) is behind the concept, which would build on its newly minted Sino-Portuguese Joint Laboratory of Marine and Environmental Sciences. The lab was established in October, in partnership with the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP), the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The director of USJ’s Institute of Science and Environment, David Gonçalves, said he believed a partnership between China and Portugal that fostered the development of “blue and green biotechnology” would yield innovative, market-applicable results.
He said that Portugal was already “pioneering” modern, sustainable methods to better utilise the ocean’s resources, noting “interesting steps” the country was taking to define protected areas in its Exclusive Economic Zone.
[See more: How local researchers have taken the lead in Macao’s sustainability movement]
Gonçalves said that Portugal’s approach could complement China’s “extremely advanced” oceanic monitoring systems and technologically sophisticated research ships, submersibles and remotely operated vehicles.
“Successful teams could be created here [in Macao] to investigate certain topics at sea,” he said. Gonçalves is also president of Macao Association for Scientific Cooperation between China and Portuguese Speaking Countries.
In connection with its Sino-Portuguese Joint Laboratory of Marine and Environmental Sciences, USJ reportedly plans to offer a new degree in biotechnology for the 2024-25 academic year.
