Research and Development (R&D)

Legally, the State can award the status of “Associate Laboratory” to institutions of high scientific and technological merit that are recognised as important players in national science and technology policy. Associate Laboratories sign special contracts with the FCT, undertaking to follow a medium-term strategy in a few strategic guideline areas, to adopt appropriate organisation and management structures, and to follow special recruitment policies for human resources and researcher training, for which they receive additional programme funding from the FCT.

There are 4 ICT Associate Laboratories, which together employ roughly 1,000 researchers, of whom more than 400 hold PhDs, and which are institutions of excellence with the status of Associate Laboratory. INESC Porto – Porto Systems and Computer Institute (site in Portuguese) , ISR Lisboa – Lisbon Systems and Robotics Institute, Telecommunications Institute and INESC ID – Systems and Computer Institute: Research and Development in Lisbon.

Additionally, 13 other ICT research units in other Portuguese institutions were classified as Excellent or Very Good in the last international assessment (conducted in 2002), which together also employ roughly 1,000 researchers, of whom over 400 hold PhDs: Centro ALGORITMI; CEOT – Electronics, Optoelectronics and Telecommunications Centre, U. Algarve; CISUC – Informatics and Systems Centre, U. Coimbra; CITI – Informatics and Information Technologies Centre, U. Nova de Lisboa; CENTRIA – Artificial Intelligence Centrel, U. Nova de Lisboa; CISTER – Research Centre for Reliable Real Time Systems, I.P. Porto; GECAD – Knowledge and Decision Making Support Engineering Research Group, I.P. Porto; IEETA – Aveiro Electronic and Telematic Engineering Institute, U. Aveiro; INESC Coimbra – Coimbra Systems and Computers Institute; ISR Coimbra – Systems and Robotics Institute, Coimbra; ISR Porto – Systems and Robotics Institute, Porto; LIACC – Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science Laboratory, U. Porto; LASIGE – Large Scale Informatics Systems Laboratory, U. Lisboa.

The State awarded the status of Associate Laboratory on 16th November 2006 to two groups of institutions with activities in the nanotechnology area:

• IN – Nanotechnology Institute, led by Professor Paulo Freitas (INESC MN, IST, U. Técnica de Lisboa)
  Includes the research units:
  • INESC MN – Microsystems and Nanotechnologies, Instituto Superior Técnico of the U. Técnica de Lisboa;
  • CQFM – Molecular Chemistry Physics Centre, Instituto Superior Técnico of the U. Técnica de Lisboa;
  • IFIMUP – Material Physics Institute of the U. Porto, Faculty of Science of the U. do Porto.
  The themed action lines are:
  
  • Micro and nanomanufacturing:
  • Micro and nanodevices for nanoelectronics and nanomedicine;
  • Nanocharacterisation technical nanomaterials.
• I3N – Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanomanufacturing Institute, led by Professor Carlos Bernardo (IPC, U. do Minho)
  Includes the research units:
  • IPC - Polymers and Compounds Institute, U. do Minho;
  • Layered Semiconductor Physics, Optoelectronics and Disorderly Systems, U. de Aveiro;
  • CENIMAT – Material Research Centre, Faculty of Science and Technology of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

  The themed action lines are:

  • Multi-scale material behaviour modelling;
  • Nanomanufacturing and microtechnologies;
  • Polymer systems with controlled micro and nano structures;
  • Physical characterisation of nanostructures.

For the purpose of R&D in enterprises and technology-based innovation, Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), maintains close relations with Adl – Innovation Agency, a body that also implements the aforementioned New Technology Enterprises – NEOTEC Initiative, Technology and Knowledge Transfer Workshops (OTIC) and Networks of Competence initiatives, and which also promotes, inter alia, entrepreneurial R&D support programmes like consortium-led R&D projects involving enterprises and scientific and higher education institutions, and the recruitment of PhD holders in companies. Adl’s collaboration with the Ministry of Internal Administration in monitoring the launch of the PEP – Portuguese Electronic Passport with technology is also noteworthy. One of the tangible outcomes is an innovative piece of equipment for collecting biometric data, which was developed and put into production by a Portuguese SME, and also the equipment for checking electronic passport at border points. The first demonstration models were put into operation at Faro airport from April 2007 on, and were then installed at Lisbon Airport and the new Terminal 2 right from its opening at the beginning of August 2007. Also in cooperation with the MAI, Adl has helped specify and launch calls for tender for development projects for a drone aircraft to detect fires.

Various ICT enterprises continue to do a great deal of R&D work, including some whose R&D spending is among the highest in all sectors. Information on some of them can be found in New Technology Enterprises.

The Government launched the Commitment to Science for Portugal’s Future (text in Portuguese) initiative on 29th March 2006 via an intervention by the Prime Minister in the Portuguese Parliament (text in Portuguese). This initiative sets ambitious targets, even for 2009, and has adopted the following five major guidelines:

• Investing in scientific knowledge and scientific and technical competence measurable at the highest international level.
• Investing in Human Resources and Scientific and Technological Culture.
• Investing in public and private R&D institutions, consolidating them, their responsibilities, organisation and online infrastructures.
• Investing in Internationalisation, Exigency and Evaluation.
• Investing in Enhancing the Economic Value of Research.

Implementing this initiative involves beefing up the public S&T budget for 2007, increasing the public budget for competitive R&D funding, channelled through the FCT, GRICES and UMIC, with 254 million Euros more than in 2006 (62% increase in the competitive funding of the S&T system by FCT, GRICES and UMIC from 2006 to 2007).

Some of the initial outcomes from measures under the Commitment to Science for Portugal’s Future initiative are worth highlighting:

• Launch of the first calls for tender for programme contracts with public or private scientific institutions in April 2006, with the objective of funding individual research work contracts through open competition and renowned international evaluation. The programme contracts aim to get at least 1,000 PhD holders recruited by 2009 (text in Portuguese) and will be geared up towards increasing critical mass or creating new teams, as well as researcher mobility.
• 60% increase in the number of new PhD and post-doctoral scholarships and five months' notice before the beginning of the scholarships from the competition launched in 2006.
• Creation of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, based in Braga, as a benchmark international organisation sponsored by Spain and Portugal, yet open to other countries at a later date, with recruitment needs of 200 researchers to be recruited internationally.
• Creation of 4 new Associate Laboratories in the fields of nanotechnology, energy and transport.
• Creation of the international S&T partnerships network (text in Portuguese) for large partnerships, taking in higher education and research institutions, as well as companies working together with international scientific organisations, foreign universities and other benchmark global scientific and technology bodies. The first of these partnerships was the MIT - Portugal Programme, which was followed by partnership agreements with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Texas in Austin.
• State Laboratory Reform (text in Portuguese) based on the recommendations of an International Working Group: 5 State Laboratories were wound up or incorporated in other institutions; 2 were set up (National Energy and Geology Laboratory, National Biological Resources Laboratory); State Laboratory status was awarded to the Legal Medicine Institute; the implementation of the innovative R&D Consortium model was decided upon, as a private, not-for-profit body, linking State Laboratories, Associate Laboratories, companies and other national and foreign bodies, starting with the creation of 4 consortia (BIOPLIS for Biology and Biotechnology, Física-N for Nuclear Physics and High Energy and Distributed Computation, RISCOS for natural and environmental risk prevention and mitigation, OCEANO for Oceanography); the International Volcanology Centre was created in the Azores; a State Laboratory Promotion Programme was set up at the FCT, based on support for developing R&D centres and networks, their involvement in national and international partnerships and the competitive promotion of the most relevant R&D capabilities of each institution; an International Scientific and Technical Committee was set up to monitor the reforms.
• The National GRID Initiative was launched on 28th April 2006 and included a call for tender for R&D projects and to demonstrate GRID computing, which was launched by the FCT in November 2006. This will be followed by a call for tender to improve infrastructures. Also of note was the launch of the Portugal-Spain GRID computing cooperation scheme, which was spearheaded at the Portugal-Spain Summit in November 2005 and which received a renewed boost at the 2006 Portugal-Spain Summit, in particular through the creation of the IBEROGRID network. The body responsible for instituting the National GRID Initiative is the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) prepared the initiative’s programme framework, namely the document setting out its definition, and it plays an observation and monitoring role as regards the initiative’s development.
• Calls for tender for Ciência Viva in Schools projects were promoted again, with roughly 900 projects approved in 2006. Approximately 700 student internships were conducted in research laboratories over the summer months in 2006. Thousands of Portuguese people were involved in Ciência Viva in the Summer over August and September, namely in Astronomy, Biology, Geology, lighthouse visits and Engineering activities. The Ciência Viva Centres Network was updated and expanded to 13 Centres in various locations around the country. 5 more are planned to open by the end of 2008. These activities are coordinated by Ciência Viva – National Agency for Scientific and Technology Culture (site in Portuguese).

The main factor in beefing up scientific and technology capability is advanced training of human resources, especially at doctorate and post-doctorate level. The number of doctorates carried out or recognised by Portuguese universities has grown on average by 9% a year since 1995, contributing to a 10% annual increase in the total number of doctorate holders since 1995. One important contribution to this growth has been the FCT’s allocation of doctorate and post-doctorate grants, with funding from the Community Support Frameworks, namely the Praxis XXI (1994-1999), POCTI/POCI (2000-2007) and POSI/POSC (2000-2007) programmes. The number of students directly receiving doctorate and post-doctorate grants from the FCT increased by 33% and 44% respectively between April 2005 and April 2007, when the number of students receiving FCT doctorate and post-doctorate grants reached 4,300 and 1,190 respectively.

The main internationally-adopted indicator for scientific production is the number of scientific publications that are referenced internationally, namely in the Science Citation Index Expanded, Thomson Scientific/Institute of Scientific Information (Thomson/ISI), Philadelphia. The number of scientific articles authored or co-authored by researchers working in Portuguese institutions referenced by Thomson/ISI has grown an average 13% since 1995. The number of publications referenced by Thomson/ISI grew 23% from 2005 to 2006.

To sum up, the number of researchers, doctorates and scientific publications referenced internationally grew an average 6%, 10% and 13% respectively between 1995 and 2006. In layman’s terms, from 1995 to 2006, the number of researchers doubled, the number or doctorates tripled and scientific production increased three and a half times. These are very high figures for an 11-year period and show significant improvements that are down not only to the amount of work put into research, but also into qualifications and productivity. Nevertheless, despite this high growth, Portugal still lags a considerable way behind the corresponding per capita figures for the EU average.

The SIFIDE – Tax Incentives System for Entrepreneurial R&D (text in Portuguese), which was discontinued in 2003, was readopted and beefed up in 2005 with good reason (text in Portuguese), placing Portugal back among the OECD countries with the most significant tax incentives for company R&D activities, as had been the case from 1997 to 2003.

The SIFIDE, together with other science and technology policy instruments like the enterprises and scientific institutions projects programme, the employing doctorate and masters holders in enterprises programme, and entrepreneurial R&D internationalisation actions in the scope of the EUREKA initiative, the European Union Research Framework Programme and the opportunities open to enterprises in international scientific organisations (CERN – European Organization for Nuclear Research, ESA – European Space Agency e ESO – European Southern Observatory in particular), has contributed decisively to the major increase in company R&D spending witnessed over the 1995-2001 period, after having stabilised at between 0.1% and 0.14% of GDP from 1998 and 1997, and after having even decreased between 1990 and 1995, this figure rose to 0.28% of GDP in 2001 (the largest growth seen over this period in all EU countries). From 1995 to 2001, the number of enterprises identified by the Science and Technology Observatory as having R&D activities increased tenfold, from roughly two hundred to approximately two thousand.

Share of total R&D spending of GDP.
1964 to 2008 (%).

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Source: OCDE.

The significant increase in the public budget for R&D from 2004 to 2007 (11% average annual growth at constant prices) has provided a decisive stimulus to increased funding for R&D activities.

After a drop in 2002-2003, the amounts in the public budget for R&D rose again, but only in 2005 did they surpass the amount registered three years previously at constant prices, with major growth from 2004 to 2007 (11% average annual growth at constant prices).

From 2004 onwards, the budget for competitive public R&D funding at the FCT, GRICES and UMIC saw major growth, although it was only with the corrective budget of 2005 that it exceeded the amount it had stood at in 2002, three years previously. In the scope of the Commitment to Science for Portugal’s Future initiative, the budget for competitive public R&D funding at the FCT, GRICES and UMIC saw particularly high growth from 2006 to 2007 (62 at current price levels), with the total sum reaching 664 million Euros.

Budget allocations for the main public institutions providing competitive funding for grants, projects, R&D institutions and infrastructures- JNICT/FCT + IICT/GRICES + UMIC (I&D)
1986 to 2008, (million Euros, constant 2008 prices).

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N.B.: Budget allocations for the JNICT until 1997, the FCT from 1997 to 2008, plus ICCTI budgetary allocations from 1998 to 2002 and from GRICES from 2003 to 2007 (international S&T cooperation responsibilities moved from the JNICT to ICCTI in 1997, then to GRICES in 2003 and to the FCT in 2007), and also the POSI/POSC and UMIC R&D budget allocations.

Source: OCT/OCES/GPEARI MCTES - Statistics.

In conclusion (see summary in pictures (text in Portuguese)):

Coming between two periods of stagnation (1986-95 and 2001-05), particularly successful policies in the 1995-2001 period led to marked growth in R&D spending in enterprises relative to GDP (17% average annual growth), while total R&D spending grew an average 7% per year relative to GDP. This growth was linked to a steep rise in competitive public R&D funding as part of the FCT and ICCTI budgets (22% average annual growth in 1995-2001). After contracting in 2002-2003, competitive public R&D funding through the FCT, GRICES and UMIC saw its highest growth levels ever from 2005 to 2007 (28% per year).

As a consequence of the changes mentioned, the way R&D spending was shared out underwent structural reform by implementation sector (universities, enterprises, the State, not-for-profit institutions). In actual fact, companies’ share of total R&D spending grew more than 70%, primarily at the cost of the State’s share, which halved, while the percentage of spending by universities and not-for-profit institutions remained roughly constant. In summary, there was a major transfer in the way R&D is shared out from the State to enterprises.

Share of R&D spending by implementing sector in 1995
1995, (%).

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Source: OCT/OCES.

Share of R&D spending by implementing sector in 2008
2008, (%).

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Source: OCT/OCES.

In terms of R&D, in addition to promoting the New Technology Enterprises – NEOTEC Initiative, Technology and Knowledge Transfer Workshops (OTIC) and Networks of Competence and funding the Adl – Innovation Agency to carry out these and other projects, including holding the 3rd Innovation Days, Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) has been involved in the administration of the Knowledge Networks launched within the Partnerships for the Future action and implementing some of their specific subprojects in the scope of the Carnegie Mellon – Portugal Programme, the UT Austin - Portugal Programme, the Fraunhofer - Portugal Programme and the Harvard - Portugal Programme, in administration of the project setting up the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory and liaising between Portugal and Spain in this project. It has also monitored the National GRID Initiative and the IBERGRID initiative and has led the representation of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU at CREST - Scientific and Technical Research Committee (CREST meeting of 6th July 2007, CREST meeting of 11th -12th October 2007, CREST meeting of 6th -7th December 2007).

Also during the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) was involved in organising conferences looking at key aspects for R&D, namely the e-Government Ministerial Conference, "On RFID – The next step to THE INTERNET OF THINGS" Conference and Exhibition, High Level Conference on Nanotechnology, and the following meetings: European Union National ICT Directors-Generals Forum , Bureau of the ARTEMIS (Embedded Systems) European Technology Platform, the Nanomedicine European Technology Platform, Steering Group of the EPoSS (Smart Systems) European Technology Platform, the Programming Committee for Them 4 "Nanoscience, Nanotechnology, Materials and New Production Technologies (NMP)" of the “Cooperation" Programme under the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme, Open Workshop for the HEALTHY AIMS project on Health Applications to Demonstrate Micro-Nano-Bio Convergence, Workshop on Computer Systems under the HIPEAC – European Network of Excellence on High-Performance Embedded Architecture and Compilation, network, Meeting of European Microfluid Experts from the NEXUS Association, ICT Committee of the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme.

At the Science 2008: More Scientists for Portugal (text in Portuguese) session, which was chaired by the Prime Minister, José Sócrates, the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, José Mariano Gago, presented a series of new measures (text in Portuguese) for Science in Portugal on 12 May 2008. These included support from the FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology to help 5000 higher education students with research, the creation of Invited Chairs at universities with the support of the State and the business sector, and the launch of competitions for new research grants and for the recruitment of a further 500 PhD level researchers.

A Invited Chair in Renewable Energies sponsored by MARTIFER INOVAÇÃO E GESTÃO S.A. and a Telecommunications Invited Chair sponsored by NOKIA-SIEMENS NETWORKS were announced at the same session. Subsequent announcements under this programme include the “Delta Cafés” Invited Chair in Biodiversity, the “Zon” Invited Chair in Innovation and Operations Management, the “Atsutoshi Nishida” Invited Chair in digital content production and technology use in education as an integral part of the Toshiba Portugal Research and Learning Network, and the “Alcatel-Lucent” Invited Chair in Information and Communication Technologies. The last three were accomplished with the involvement of The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) in negotiations with the respective companies.

The FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, IP published the results of the International Evaluation of Research Units on 17 December 2008. The international evaluation process of Portugal’s research units commenced in 1996 and was repeated in 1999-2000 and 2002-2004. It follows international standards and notably analyses the best work selected by each R&D unit so as to place the emphasis on analysis of the scientific work undertaken by independent specialists rather than just look at mere quantitative indicators.

Taking all the areas as a whole, except for two that were left for later evaluation, institutions were allocated a grade: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Regular and Weak. The results were, respectively, 21%, 38%, 25%, 15% and 2% (compared with 21%, 31%, 27% 13% and 8% in 2003). The number of PhD-level researchers per unit increased significantly (in 2003 only 20% of units had more than 20 PhD-level researchers; now the figure is more than 50%).

The evaluation was based on reports from 23 panels of international experts who assessed and visited all the research units in 2007 and 2008. The process involved more than 250 experts from more than 15 countries and the results include the grade given to each unit and a specific report for each unit with its own qualitative appraisal.

20,307 researchers, including 8,759 PhD holders, worked in the 332 scientific institutions assessed. The regular, independent, international evaluation system of all Portuguese scientific institutions has been decisive for Portugal, with R&D activities in Portugal recording highest growth in EU countries as the recently published results from the IPCTN 2007 – National Scientific Survey 2007 show.

The FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, IP and The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) opened the Call for Pre-Proposals for Setting Up and Operating R&D Consortia on 3 February 2009, as foreseen in Council of Ministers Resolution No. 124/2006, of 3 October, on State Laboratory reform. The creation of these R&D Consortia involves competitive support for the development of R&D centres and networks, involvement in national and international partnerships and mobilisation of their R&D capacities. The creation of R&D consortia is intended to modernise the Portuguese scientific and technology system, contributing towards the reform of the State Laboratories, beefing up cooperation with Associate Laboratories, other R&D units that have been approved by the international evaluations sponsored by the FCT, higher education institutions, enterprises and other public and private bodies, both national or foreign. The consortia will enable efficient critical masses to be formed with the necessary flexibility and adaptability. This will allow synergies to be harnessed as regards human resources, materials and different subjects for programmed objectives of public interest. The aforementioned Council of Ministers Resolution designated the following consortia, without prejudice to other possible areas: Bioscience and Biotechnology, with the focus on applications in agriculture, forestry and fisheries (BIOPOLIS); Nuclear Physics and Advanced Computing (FISICA-N); Public Risks (RISCOS); Oceanography and Sea Science and Technology (OCEANOS); Space Science and Technology (ESPAÇO); Promoting Portuguese Participation in European R&D Policy for Security (SEGURANÇA).

Also of further note is the series of “Meetings with the Scientific Community in Portugal” that have been held annually since 2007. These have been jointly organised by the CLA - Council of Associate Laboratories, the FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, IP and The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) (see Science 2007 – Meeting with the Scientific Community in Portugal, Science 2008 – Meeting with the Scientific Community in Portugal, Science 2009 – Meeting with Science in Portugal: Future Internet-related topics highlighted).