The first Congreso Nacional de Emprendimiento STEAM, SynBio e Innovación Social of Spain was celebrated in Málaga the past 5th of May 2022. This event had over fifty in-person assistants and was followed online by more than 120 people. During the event, several initiatives promoting the use of STEAM disciplines and entrepreneurship for social innovation were presented, paving the way towards impacting the future.

  • Event Date: May 5th-7th, 2022
  • iGEM Representative: Xavier Alexandro Rios Salinas - 2022 iGEM Community Academia & Research Steering Group

The National Congress of Biotechnology of Mexico (BIOGENESIS 2.0) ↗ was attended by students from Mexican, Colombian and Bolivian universities and representatives of Mexican startups and organizations related to biotechnology and entrepreneurship.

Xavier Alexandro Rios Salinas from the iGEM Community attended Biogenesis 2.0 to highlight the work of the Academia & Research Network and the iGEM Community.

Xavier Alexandro Rios Salinas, 2022 iGEM Community Academia & Research Steering Group

“iGEM Competition is the base catalyst for the interaction of young scientists who are willing to solve local problems with synthetic biology. Moreover, the iGem Community is a great platform that enables us to share knowledge and ideas with which we will transform the world into a better version of itself by applying technologies with strong ethics at the same time.”

The Mexican synthetic biology community is among the leaders of the field in Latin America. Their experience, infrastructure and human talent is a solid base for promoting the advances of synbio within the region, and there is a growing consciousness about their role as leaders of Latin America when talking about scientific production and bioentrepreneurship.

Through conversations with the local scientists Xavier believes that although scientists are presently either struggling or scaling their ideas to solve local problems using biotechnology, but thanks to the approaches of synthetic bio community growing in the country itself and other LATAM regions, they are starting to solve those gaps and a new generation of young scientists is evolving with a better view of applying these new technologies more directly to their communities.

After noticing the participation of students and scientists from other countries in the event, Xavier has started discussing the development of an international version of this Congreso de Biotecnología, with the Director of the Synthetic Biology Mexican Network, Dr. Luis Figueroa. Dr. Luis is keen on realizing this idea with support from Daniel Dominguez (iGEMer, Founder allBiotech and a part of iGEM Design League leadership) and the organizers of BIOGENESIS 2.0.

As a result of his participation, Xavier has been invited by the Dean of the Medicine and Biochemistry Colleges of Saint Francis Xavier University to present at the institution.

To find more information about the iGEM Ambassadors & Promoters for Europe and regional synbio activities visit our Europe webpage. Learn more about the Ambassador Program here.

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