SME Innovation Associate Program has allowed the incorporation of a postdoctoral researcher into BIOLAN on 1 September. Niamh Brannelly, PhD in electrochemical printed sensor development, is an expert in combining print deposition techniques with functional materials to create highly sensitive and specific sensing platforms of across a range analytical applications. She is already forming part of the research and technological development team of the Basque biotech company, a leader in biosensors applied to the agri-food industry.

This incorporation will allow BIOLAN to advance in new and advanced technologies for the development of a new generation of biosensors for a wider range of applications and fundamentally to reach more market niches with technological needs still unresolved.

SME Innovation Associate Program aims to help SMEs and startups to cover their needs for highly specialized researchers and to facilitate access to the job market for young professionals who are highly qualified in scientific and technological fields. In this first pilot call, this aid program, framed in the Horizon 2020 strategy of the European Commission, has selected 71 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 17 countries.