The Collaboration Challenge of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) aims to promote collaboration between companies and research organizations.                                                                                         

The researchers from the University of Salamanca presented 15 projects with a positive response in the last edition, which meant a success rate of over 46 percent, above the national average, as I pointed out in this blog. A clear example of University-Company collaboration is with Bodegas Mamoterra, a wine company that relied on USAL´s polyphenols research group and a team from Madrid´s Institute of Food Science to develop a product with from winery by-products that would have healthier properties, as described in an article in the La Gaceta newspaper. The University team contributed to this by making use of a microscopic worm known as C. elegans and an in vitro gastrointestinal simulator to study the processes in the digestive system of polyphenols.

If the research is completed with success, Bodegas Mamoterra will be able to patent the product.