Hugo Prazeres graduated in Biology from the Faculty of Science and Technology - University of Coimbra (Portugal) and obtained his PhD in Biomedicine from the Faculty of Medicine -University of Porto (Portugal). Hugo has published several peer-reviewed scientific papers with 1917 citations and an h-index of 20, as well as he has been awarded with several prizes (Young Investigator Award of the European Society of Human Genetics and the BES Inovation Award). Hugo also took an MBA and has acted as a consultant in subjects, such as CE marking and Manufacture of and In Vitro Diagnostics Medical Devices. In 2007 Hugo co-founded a Biotech company at the Pedro Nunes Institute, in Coimbra (Portugal). Besides the experience in management accumulated in this setting, Hugo has developed skills in the field of industrial property, including courses on patent preparation, database consultation and writing of patent claims. Between 2015 and 2020 Hugo managed 24 active patents, operated two-rounds of an innovation acceleration program (in which 16 projects were supported) and organized 3 editions of a health innovation award. He supported teams in highly competitive international-scope-acceleration programs such as the CaixaImpulse (5 teams) as well as other innovation training and proof-of-concept programs (HiSeed-Tech; BIP-proof; EIT Jumpstarter and UP/EIT Hub). As a result, in the same period 23 licensing agreements were achieved (with 5 products already in the market), and 8 spin-offs were launched. Hugo has acted as interim manager, supported applications to acceleration programs, regulatory assessments in case of medical devices and assists operation of spin-offs development programs. Currently, he is the Team Coordinator of the Knowledge Transfer Office of the Research and Innovation Unit of i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde da Universidade do Porto (Portugal), as well as Co-Founder of BEAT Therapeutics and FetalDisc, Lda.