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Meeting of Ministers of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the CPLP

On August 29, 2009, the Ministers CPLP – Community of Portuguese Language Countries responsible for science and technology and for higher education met in Lisbon.

Portugal has the Presidency of the CPLP this year and prepared an agenda which includes the discussion of a Portuguese proposal to create a, in a completely innovative approach, a UNESCO Centre for advanced training in science within the institutions of the CPL (text of the declaration in Portuguese) , combining the high-level scientific training, namely through PhD programs, with the training for the social responsibility of scientists, the public communication of science, and integration in international networks and research programs, with the objective of facilitating the scientific development of the countries of origin and of combating the brain drain. Portugal ensures the launching and the early operation of this new center of distributed advanced scientific training, in cooperation with UNESCO and in combination with other CPLP countries.
XXIV Portugal – Spain Summit
The XXIV Portugal – Spain Summit was held on 22nd January 2009 in Zamora, Spain. The following conclusions were approved in the fields of Science, Technology and Higher Education: “The two governments reaffirm their commitment to providing a joint boost to the science and technology systems of both countries as fundamental drivers in terms of improving productivity and developing solid knowledge and innovation-based economies.
Meeting of the OECD Innovation Strategy Committee Presidents
A Meeting of the OECD Innovation Strategy Committee Presidents was held on 20th January 2009 at the OCDE headquarters in Paris aimed at discussing the draft midterm report on the said strategy.

Members of the delegations of different countries involved in the bureaux of different committees and working parties took part, namely Austria, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and members of the OECD Secretariat and the committees involved. The President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) took part in his role as Vice President of the ICCP – Information, Computer and Communication Policy Committee.
324th Meeting of CREST – the EU’s Scientific and Technical Research Committee
The 324th Meeting of CREST – the Scientific and Technical Research Committee took place on 16th January 2009 in the Council of the European Union building in Brussels. It was chaired by the Director-General for Research.

This meeting was attended at Director-General level by the representations of the Member States and associate countries under the 7th Framework Programme for IDT. The Portuguese delegation was headed by the President of the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
Meeting of the OECD's Information, Computers and Communication Policy Committee (56th session)
The 56th session of the OECD’s Information, Computers and Communication Policy Committee (ICCP) took place on 11th -12th December 2008 in Paris.

This meeting’s agenda covered the election of the Committee Bureau, discussion and approval of extending the stakeholders who may take part in the Committee’s work, review and approval of new mandates for the Committee’s subordinate groups (Information Economy, Information Security and Privacy, Infrastructure and Communication Services Policies, Information Society Indicators), analysis of the accession process of new countries to the OECD in progress and the ICCP budget, discussion of the Committee’s work plan for the 2009-2010 period, the report and discussion of the Internet Governance Forum 2008 that took place in Hyderabad, India, the week before, information and discussion on the Innovation Strategy adopted by the OECD, information and discussion of the main aspects from the 2008 Information Technology Outlook report, and information and discussion of the Counterfeiting and Piracy Project underway. The President of the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) headed the Portuguese delegation at this meeting.
UMIC President elected Vice President of the OECD's ICCP Committee
Luis Magalhães, President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), was elected today, 11th December 2008, to the Bureau of the OECD’s Information, Computers and Communication Policy Committee (ICCP) as Vice President of this Committee, together with representatives from Germany, Canada (President), the United States of America, Finland, Italy, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

This Committee (ICCP – Information, Computer and Communications Policy) operates within the OECD’s DSTI – Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry and is responsible for promoting the necessary regulatory policies and environments for the growth of the Internet and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as drivers of innovation, productivity, growth and social well-being.
Internet Governance Forum 2008
The 3rd meeting of the IGF - Internet Governance Forum was held in Hyderabad, India, on 3rd – 6th December 2007.

The IGF was created in the scope of the United Nations, in the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis on 16th – 18th November 2005 (see Portugal takes part in the World Summit on the Information Society). The 1st meeting of the IGF was staged in Athens, Greece, on 30th October to 2nd November 2006, and the 2nd meeting took place in Rio de Janeiro from 12th to 15th November 2007.

The main sessions at the 3rd IGF meeting covered the following topics: Reaching the Next Billion, Promoting Cyber-Security and Trust, Managing Critical Internet Resources, Emerging Issues, and Taking Stock and the Way Forward. More than 85 workshops and other sessions ran concurrently (see session programme).
National ICT Directors-General Forum, Lyon
The half-yearly meeting of the National ICT Directors-General Forum was held on 26th November in Lyon, France. This forum comprises the Directors-General responsible for Information and Communication Technologies in the 27 EU Member States and associate countries under the EU Framework Programme for Research.
8th Meeting of the i2010 High Level Group
The 8th Meeting of the i2010 High Level Group was held on 18th November 2008 in the Presidency of the European Commission building in Brussels. The members are Directors-General for the Information Society, representing the Member States.

Portugal is represented at the i2010 High Level Group by the President of the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
Meeting of the High Level Group on Internet Governance (Nov 2008)
The HLIG – High Level Group on Internet Governance), an informal group of experts advising the European Commission, met in Geneva, their main objective being to discuss the European Union position at the 3rd meeting of the Internet Governance Forum 2008 that was held in Hyderabad, India, on 3rd – 6th December 2008.
Space for Development: The Case of the GMES Initiative and Africa Conference
In the scope of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union and to mark the EU - Africa Summit of 7th – 9th December, the Space for Development: The Case of GMES and Africa conference is being held on 6th – 7th December 2007 at the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon. The conference is being jointly organised by Portugal’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education together with the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission and the GMES – Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative.
GMES – Global Monitoring for Environment and Security is an initiative of the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), which is designed to collect and provide reliable and up-to-date data on the state of the environment and environmental monitoring with a view to its preservation and preventing risk situations (e.g. floods, forest fires and water pollution).
317th Meeting of CREST – Scientific and Technical Research Committee, European Union
The 317th meeting of CREST – Scientific and Technical Research Committee, chaired by the Deputy Director General for Research at the European Commission, Zoran Stancic, will take place in the Council of the European Union building in Brussels on 7th December 2007.

This is the 3rd CREST meeting under the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, the 1st meeting of which was held in Brussels in the first week of the Presidency, the 2nd meeting in Ponta Delgada on 11th – 12th October 2007. The first point on the agenda is Presidency information presented by the head of the Portuguese delegation, Luis Magalhães, President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
5th Meeting of the High Level i2010 Group and Industry Round Table on Networks of the Future
A meeting of the i2010 High Level Group will be held in the headquarters of the European Commission building in Brussels on the afternoon of 28th November 2007. The members are Directors-General for the Information Society, representing the Member States.
Portugal is represented at the i2010 High Level Group by the President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
Forum of National ICT Directors-General of the European Union Meeting
The half-yearly Forum of National ICT Directors-General of the European Union will be held on 19th November 2007 in Braga, the day before the High Level Conference on Nanotechnologies. This forum brings together the Directors-General responsible for the field of Information and Communication Technologies in the 27 Member States of the EU and external countries associated with the EU’s Framework Research Programme.
EU-MED Event
The “EU-MED Event” will take place on 23rd-24th October 2007 in Brussels. The objective of this event is to focus on aspects of collaboration are aspects of collaboration between the European Union and the Non-EU countries around the Mediterranean, namely in the fields of research infrastructures, including national research and education networks (EUMEDCONNECT) and their links to the European GÉANT network, GRID Computation (EUMEDGRID) and other e-Infrastructures.

There will be interventions from HRH Princess of Jordan Sumayya Bint Al Hassan,Dr. Najib Abdul Wahed,Deputy Minister of Higher Education for Scientific Research, Syria, Mr. Mashour Abudaka, Minister, Palestine, among others. The President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) will take part on behalf of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU.
The organisation of the “EU-MED Event” is based on three projects setting up eInfrastructures in the Mediterranean region: EUMEDCONNECT, EUMEDGRID and GÉANT2 development support.
2nd meeting of the EUROMED Forum on the Information Society
The 2nd meeting of the EUROMED Forum on the Information Society will be held on 25th October 2007 in Brussels.
The opening session will commence with an intervention from the President of the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), who will be representing the Portuguese Presidency of the EU. This will be followed by interventions by the Deputy Director General for the Information Society and Media at the European Commission and by the Director for International Relations from Egypt’s Ministry for Information and Communication Technologies.

The meeting agenda takes in various aspects of cooperation between the EU and non-EU countries around the Mediterranean in Information Society fields, including support projects for the Research and Education network under EUMEDCONNECT, which is connected to the GÉANT2 European network, other e-Infrastructures projects, including GRID Computation as part of the EUMEDGRID project, projects in the scope of the EU’s 7th Framework Research Programme, cooperation in regulating telecommunications and preparing the 2nd EUROMED Ministerial Conference on the Information Society, which will be held in Cairo, Egypt, in 2008.
316th Meeting of CREST – Scientific and Technical Research Committee, European Union

The 316th meeting of CREST – Scientific and Technical Research Committee, chaired by the Deputy Director General for Research at the European Commission, Zoran Stancic, will take place in Ponta Delgada on 11th – 12th October 2007.

This is the 2nd CREST meeting under the Portuguese Presidency of the EU. The previous CREST meeting was held in Brussels in the first week of the Presidency. The first point on the agenda is Presidency information, which shall include reference to the results of the “The Future of Science in Europe” High Level Conference held over the course of the three previous days in Lisbon, as well as the upcoming R&D events planned under the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, which will be presented by the head of the Portuguese delegation, Luis Magalhães, President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
Meeting of the OECD's Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policies
The 53rd Meeting of the OECD's Committee for Information, Computers and Communication Policies is being held in Ottawa, Canada from 4th to 5th October 2007. Topics for consideration at this meeting include the participative web, the OECD Ministerial Meeting on The Future of the Internet Economy - Shaping Policies for Creativity, Confidence and Convergence in the Digital World, which will be held in Seoul, Korea on 17th-18th June 2008, use of the Internet to improve economic performance and social well-being and the recent proof of the impact of ICT on economic growth. The Portuguese delegation at this meeting will be headed by the President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
The Committee for Information, Computers and Communication Policies meeting will be preceded by other OECD meetings.
Open Consultations and Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum's Advisory Group
The Open Consultations will be held at the United Nations in Geneva on 3rd September 2007 as part of the preparations for the 2nd Meeting of the IGF – Internet Governance Forum, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 12th to 15th November 2007. The IGF was set up under the 2nd phase of the WSIS – World Summit on the Information Society, which was held in Tunis from 16th-18th November 2005.
The 1st meeting of the IGF took place in Athens from 30th October to 2nd November 2006. As the Open Consultations are being held during the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union (EU), the Presidency will be represented by the Portuguese delegation headed by Luis Magalhães, President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
315th Meeting of CREST Scientific and Technical Research Committee, European Union
The 315th meeting of CREST – Scientific and Technical Research Committee, chaired by the Director General for Research at the European Commission, José Silva Rodriguez, and with Member States represented by their Director-Generals, will take place in the European Council building in Brussels on 6th July 2007. As this meeting is taking place a mere fortnight before the Informal Meeting of Ministers for Competitiveness – Research, one of its objectives is to make progress on technical preparation points for the Informal Meeting of Ministers.

This CREST meeting will take place in the first week of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, therefore the first point on the agenda will be dedicated to information from the Presidency on the priorities and main events outlined for the R&D area, which will be presented by the head of the Portuguese delegation, Luis Magalhães, President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
4th Meeting of the i2010 High Level Group
A meeting of the i2010 High Level Group will be held in the headquarters of the European Commission building in Brussels on 20th April 2007. The members are Directors-General for the Information Society, representing the Member States.
Portugal is represented at the i2010 High Level Group by the President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC)
3rd Meeting of the i2010 High Level Group
A meeting of the i2010 High Level Group will be held in the headquarters of the European Commission building in Brussels on 12th December 2006. The members are Directors-General for the Information Society, representing the Member States.
Portugal is represented at the i2010 High Level Group by the President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
2nd Meeting of the i2010 High Level Group
A meeting of the i2010 High Level Group will be held in Helsinki on 27th Setember 2006. The members are Directors-General for the Information Society, representing the Member States.

Portugal is represented at the i2010 High Level Group by the President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
Call for CYTED Proposals
A call for proposals in the scope of the CYTED Programme (Scientific and Technological Cooperation with the Iberian-American Region) is open until 30th June 2006 for Thematic Networks, Coordination Actions for Research Projects and Consortium-based Research Projects.
European Union - Latin America and Caribbean Ministerial Forum on the Information Society
The IV European Union - Latin America and Caribbean Ministerial Forum on the Information Society (text in Portuguese) will take place at the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon on 28th and 29th April 2006. It will be organised by the Portuguese Government and the European Commission, with the support of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) and AHCIET - Asociación Hispanoamericana de Centros de Investigación y Empresas de Telecomunicaciones (in its role as a member of the InternationalStakeholder Networkconsortium of the European Union’s @LIS - Alliance for the Information Society Programme).
1st Meeting of the i2010 High Level Group
The first meeting of the i2010 High Level Group will be held in the Headquarters of the European Commission building in Brussels on 20th April 2006. The members are Directors-General for the Information Society, representing the Member States.
Portugal is represented at the i2010 High Level Group by the President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
Portugal participates in the World Summit on the Information Society
Harnessing the benefits from the digital revolution and fostering worldwide discussion of the spread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are the objectives of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), being held from 16th to 18th November in Tunis in the scope of the United Nations’ activities.
Portugal will be represented at the work at this United Nations’ World Summit by a delegation headed by the Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education, José Mariano Gago, representing the Prime Minister.
Minister Mariano Gago will address the Summit plenary on 17th November and on the same day will take part in a round table on the topic of From pledges to action – implementing the Tunis recommendations.
Memorandum of Understanding between Portuguese and Korean governments
The Portuguese Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education and South Korea’s Minister for Information and Communication will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Seoul on 16th September 2005.
Approval for the i2010 – programme replacing the eEurope 2005 action programme
The European Commission last week approved the i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment programme, which replaces the eEurope 2005 action programme.
Based around three pillars – where the convergence of policies, increased investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) and the promotion of an inclusive information society are aligned towards the same objective -, the new strategy has been earmarked as a new driver for the Lisbon Strategy, which has also undergone a rethink so that it focuses on growth and employment.
The "i2010: European Information Society 2010" strategy has been defined for the next five-year period and will be funded by the European Union’s programmes, namely the seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP), as both prioritise ICT as catalysts for Europe’s competitiveness. To promote a more inclusive information society for people, the European Commission will invest in an action plan for eGovernment services focused on citizens, which is scheduled to be launched in 2006. Added to this are three quality of life initiatives – including technology to help the elderly, intelligent vehicles and digital libraries for all – which are due to start by 2007. Actions to span social and geographical divides within Europe in the area of digital literacy will culminate in the e-Inclusion plan, with a start date pencilled in for 2008.