Macau, China, June 16, 2026 (Lusa) - The Brazilian start-up Phycolabs, which turns seaweed into textile products, won the sixth technology and innovation competition in Macau on Tuesday – the first edition to be extended to Spanish-speaking countries – the jury announced.
In March, the Macau Government announced that it would open the competition to start-ups from Spanish-speaking countries, a competition that had previously been reserved for technology firms from Portugal and Brazil.
As a result, the competition, organised by the Macau Economic and Technological Development Bureau, received applications for more than 70 projects from around 30 incubators and higher education institutions, of which 17 reached the final stage, hailing from Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Peru.
Phycolabs will receive a prize of 200,000 patacas (around €21,400), and the tech firm’s founder, Thamires Pontes, expressed her delight at the victory and the opportunity to “return to Macau”.
The Brazilian project had already, in December, come second in the fifth edition of the Sino-Lusophone competition for start-ups and universities, the 929 Challenge, also held in Macau.
In second place, with a prize of 150,000 patacas (€16,000), was the Spanish firm Airway Shield, which manufactures medical equipment to facilitate intubation.
Third place, with a prize of 120,000 patacas (€12,800), went to the Portuguese firm Complear, which helps digital health companies comply with regulatory requirements.
Complear had won the 929 Challenge in Macau in December.
The competition also awarded 40,000 patacas (€4,300) to the Spanish firm Phasica Bioscience, for having the “greatest potential for technology transfer”, and to the Brazilian firm Onkos Diagnósticos Moleculares, for having the “greatest development potential in the Greater Bay Area”.
The Greater Bay Area is a Beijing-led project to create a global metropolis that includes Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province, with a population of around 86 million and an economy worth over €1 trillion.
The current leader of the Macau Government, Sam Hou Fai, who took office in December 2024, has identified the promotion of financial and commercial services between China and Portuguese-speaking countries as a priority.
China established the Macau Special Administrative Region as a platform for strengthening economic and trade cooperation with Portuguese Language Countries in 2003 and, in the same year, created the Macau Forum.
In addition to China, the organisation includes the members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP): Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste and, since 2022, Equatorial Guinea.
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