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Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC)
secção: Internacionalização
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XXI Portugal-Spain Summit

 - 19/11/2005

Portugal and Spain flagsA decision was reached at the XXI Portugal-Spain Summit held in Évora on 18 and 19 November 2005 to set up a Portuguese-Spanish R&D Institute, as a groundbreaking initiative symbolising a new type of international institutional R&D partnership in science and technology in Europe.

It was decided that the institute would be located in Braga-Portugal. Its first director would be a Spanish researcher (Professor José Rivas of the University of Santiago de Compostela, nominated on the occasion by the President of the Government of Spain) and it would have 200 researchers from Spain, Portugal and other countries, with an annual operational budget of approximately 30 million Euros and an additional investment of the same amount, shared equally between the two countries.

The idea behind setting up this new institute is to beef up scientific and technological cooperation between Portugal and Spain, opening up a new era in their relations and in building national knowledge-based economies.

The initial phase will involve Portugal and Spain, but other countries will be allowed to join, as will institutions and specialists from all over the world, with the objective of becoming a benchmark international research facility, developing partnerships with higher education institutions and the business sector, promoting the transfer of knowledge that adds value and creates jobs, as well as training specialised professionals.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the aforementioned Summit, setting up a bilateral Technical Committee to prepare a detailed proposal including definitions of the initial lines of scientific and technological activity to pursue, the Institute’s operational model, how it will be funded, and the partnerships to be set up and methods and timeframe for setting up. It was agreed that this committee would comprise representatives from The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) , the Science and Technology Foundation (FCT), the Office for International Science and Higher Education Relations (GRICES) and the Council of Associate Laboratories (CLA), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education from Portugal, and the Directorate-General for Research (DGI), the Directorate-General for Technology Policy (DGTP) and the Directorate-General for Universities (DGU), and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain. This Technical Committee was chaired by the President of The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, and by the Secretary-General for Scientific and Technology Policy and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

12 Memoranda of Understanding were signed at the XXI Portugal-Spain Summit in the fields of Science, Technology and the Information Society:

Memorandum of Understanding to jointly set up and operate a Portugal-Spain R&D Institute (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding to launch a pilot programme reciprocally opening up National R&D Funding Programmes (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding on International Cooperation under the 7th EU Framework Programme (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding on the Subject of the Information Society (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Tourism and Trade of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding on the joint use of Assessors (text in Portuguese) the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding on the promotion of Scientific and Technology Culture (text in Portuguese) the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding in the field of Nuclear, Particle and Astroparticle Physics (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding on the Subject of distributed GRID computing (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding to promote mobility between Universities and Research and Development Institutions (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding to develop specific Science and Technology Plans with a view to mutually strengthening international intervention capacities (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding in the field of Electronic Research and Education Networks (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

Memorandum of Understanding to set up a thematic research network support programme (text in Portuguese) between the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Portuguese Republic and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kingdom of Spain.

The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) was directly involved through its President in preparing the Science, Technology, Information Society and Higher Education component for the XXI Portugal-Spain Summit. The President of UMIC, Luis Magalhães, accompanied the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, José Mariano Gago, at the Summit.

Last updated ( 10/08/2011 )