“We are capable of being the best in the world at many things. We have to tell people that we are going to be able to. We are able to have an innovation capital for the world here. These unicorns that I speak of are that ambition. We have no problem using ambitious words”, said the social-democratic mayor, as he left the opening ceremony of the BioLab (BLL), installed at the Forno do Tijolo Market.

BLL is part of the Fab Lab municipal space and is the result of a partnership between the Lisbon City Council, the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon and the Association for Research and Development of Sciences, characterised by being a space of “digital fabrication , experimentation and prototyping open to all citizens”.

“Giving citizens the opportunity to do science, to be with scientists and to produce what will be innovation in the future. Here, in the parish of Arroios, we have this BioLab, that is, a laboratory where people can come and test biotechnology techniques”, underlined Carlos Moedas.

One of the innovations involves producing energy from waste and carrying out treatments using algae.

“It's working with materials that are rubbish today and to take that rubbish to produce value, energy and products that can be for people. We are very pleased,” he said.