CoLab AccelBio held its annual Connecting Day on May 29th, 2026, at the Pavilhão de Portugal in Lisbon, bringing together researchers, innovators, policymakers, and partners from academia and industry for a day dedicated to translational research and collaboration in the life sciences.
The programme opened with an overview of CoLab AccelBio's growth, capacities, and assets by AccelBio's Management Team (Bárbara Gomes - CEO, Ricardo Viais - COO, Sílvia Almeida - CSO), followed by a keynote presentation on Translational Research by Bruno Dombrecht, Head of VIB Discovery Sciences. The day also featured two round table discussions: one exploring the challenges and opportunities of translational research in academia, and another examining the future of organoids in drug discovery.
Speakers included Bruno Dombrecht (VIB Discovery Sciences), Raúl Saraiva (3xP), João Leandro and Vânia Cardoso (CoLAB AccelBio); Aline Fernandes (OrganoStemTech), Raquel Cunha (CoLab TRIALS), Cláudia Miranda and Mariana Branco (CoLAB AccelBio).
The event also welcomed three members of CoLAB AccelBio's International Advisory Board — Ivo Lorenz, Katie Ellias, and Molly Harper — who travelled from the United States to Lisbon to share their perspective and guidance with the community.
The quality of the conversations throughout the day underscored the importance of building strong partnerships between academia and industry to drive meaningful progress in the life sciences. Beyond the discussions themselves, Connecting Day continues to serve as a space for partnering among academic, non-academic, and industry players. CoLab AccelBio's goal for the event is not only to foster genuine dialogue, but also to reinforce existing partnerships and establish new ones that help grow the Portuguese biotech ecosystem.
CoLab AccelBio would like to thank all speakers, its International Advisory Board members, the whole AccelBio team, and everyone who attended and helped make the day memorable. The organization looks forward to continuing these collaborations in the years ahead.
