Minister challenges researchers to resort more to European funding

The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato, challenged Portuguese researchers to resort “increasingly” to European funding lines, in order to reinforce their own national budgets.

“In addition to national investment, we have European funding available for the current Horizonte Europe programme. And that we, researchers, and you, teachers and researchers, should use more and more”, said Elvira Fortunato in Covilhã, where this Wednesday inaugurated the room of the Competence Center in Advanced Computing at the University of Beira Interior (UBI).

The initiative was part of the “Closer Government” action, which is being carried out today and Thursday, in the district of Castelo Branco, and which includes the holding of the Council of Ministers, in addition to many meetings and visits made by the first -Minister, Ministers and Secretaries of State.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education highlighted the importance of funding, both in terms of higher education and for the development of research and stressed that this year’s State Budget already includes an increase.

Even so, he recalled, it is also important for institutions and researchers to follow the funding lines in order to be able to apply and develop projects.

Remembering that the Horizon Europe program for 2023/2024 has around 13.5 billion euros, Elvira Fortunato also pointed out the possibilities that the “Digital Europe Programme” and “Digital Skills” programs open up for research centers and for the companies themselves. universities.

He also said that the department is working to increase the number of qualified staff, doctorates and researchers in the business sector, in the public sector and in the social sector, through the reinforcement of doctoral scholarships and researcher contracts in a non-academic context, such as companies, public administration and social entities, among others.

The minister highlighted the fact that “Graduate Tracking Portugal 2022” is being carried out, the first major national study on higher education graduates, which aims to better understand the professional situation of graduates and collect indications to reformulate the offer of initial training and lifelong.

Elvira Fortunato stressed the importance of cooperation and partnerships that UBI has developed, stressing that it is a “reference institution in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, health, renewable energies, geoscience, among many others that are fundamental for the Europe”.

In this session, the rector of UBI, Mário Raposo, pointed out the commitment to do more and better.

The Advanced Computing Competence Center (3CA.UBI) is a point of knowledge sharing and access to computing resources and data visualization, to provide UBI with a room for sharing scientific results on a large screen, provide more direct material means to support access to the national advanced computing network and attract human resources to support the activity, as well as being a “hub” for disseminating calls for projects and funding opportunities.

The 3CA.UBI results from a protocol with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and represents an initial funding of one hundred thousand euros.