About Us

The history of APREDIN developed in 4 major periods:

1. APREDIN was created in 2005 under the impulse of its first president, Júlio Dias. Several municipalities, universities, Tech Parks and SMEs were major collaborators promoting workshops and entrepreneurship capacitation courses in its first years of activity.

2. Then comes the Technopolis era (2006 – 2013) during which APREDIN focused mostly on activities supporting research and entrepreneurship, being included in both Technopolis projects (MEDOCC-TECH and MED-TECH). Also in this period, APREDIN organized two major scientific events: in 2012, The EGGPEL (State of Management in Latin Countries) took place in Estoril and in 2013 the MED Technopolis’ congress took place in Santarém and Rio Maior.

3. The third period took place from 2014 to 2017 and was the opportunity to organize several events about innovation and economic development (Gradil / Mafra in 2014, Santarém in 2016, Universidade Lusófona in 2017). It culminated in a major scientific event, organized in Universidade Lusófona (Lisboa), CEIPEL “Congress on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Latin Countries) in 2018.

4. From 2018, APREDIN entered the Quadruple Helix Era, refocusing its activity in the support of innovation based on this new open innovation paradigm. The Interreg 4helix+ project was crucial in this strategy and is having continuity with the Erasmus+ React Digital project and other activities of the association.