The Vice-President of the Government announced that the rehabilitation and adaptation works of ANA's former General Workshops, located within Santa Maria Airport, to the Business Incubator of the Centre for Business Development and Innovation began Monday with the signing of the contract work assignment,
 
Sérgio Ávila stressed that the project "will contribute to boost local economic activity, both with companies in the technological field and with companies in the craft sector, providing better conditions for their success."
 
The work was awarded to the company Marques, S.A. It has a base price of about 2 million Euros, of which 85% will be reimbursed by the Community funds under the Azores 2020 Operational Programme, and is scheduled to be completed by May 19.
 
"This investment fulfils a commitment that falls within a broader strategy to support and strengthen regional economic development, thus contributing to economic, social and territorial cohesion," added the Vice-President of the Government.
 
The rehabilitation and adaptation project of ANA's former General Workshops to the business incubator comprises several components, namely the installation of new companies, spaces for promotional events, a FabLab (Laboratory of Endogenous Resources); the latter contains a fabrication laboratory.
 
This business incubation centre will also house training rooms, spaces for creative industries, including craft and agri-food companies, among other areas.
 
"The mission of the business incubator of the Santa Maria Centre for Business Development and Innovation is to identify, incubate, accelerate and grow creative ideas, transforming them into innovative and structured projects that will lead the market of creative and technological industries," said Sergio Ávila. He added that the new infrastructure will include the Regional Network of Incubators that is being implemented in the archipelago.
 
For the current legislative period, the Regional Government intends to create 12 local-based incubators, three regional-based incubators and three technology-based incubators. According to the government official, they "are part of the strategy to increase the Region's economic activity and strengthen the production fabric, namely by providing support to the emergence of new companies in strategic sectors for regional development," said Sérgio Ávila.