Science 2010 – Meeting Science in Portugal : Topics Related to the Internet of the Future

This meeting, which brings together scientific institutions and companies, continues the discussion of some of the most important areas of scientific activity in Portugal, as well as the scientific and technological advances in areas of note from the following areas:

• Internet of the Future,
• Marine Resources and Technologies for Ocean Exploration,
• Medicine and Health,
• Nanosciences and Nanotechnology,
• Energy Production,
• Transportation and Logistics.

Two fundamental aspects of this meeting are also worthy of note:

• The high participation of companies associated with the growing importance of science and technology to the economy;
• The emphasis on scientific and technological cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries, notably in Africa.

The so-called Future Internet, an area of R & D that has recently received particular attention in the R& D component in Information and Communication Technologies and the Information Society in the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Union, will have a major presence in this meeting, as was the case in previous years (see Ciência 2009 – Meeting with the Scientific Community in Portugal: Highlighted Topics Regarding the Internet of the Future and Ciência 2008 – Meeting with the Scientific Community in Portugal , and particularly the presentations on the following topics, in addition to the initial session on Introduction to Technologies of the Internet of the Future: e-Science, New applications of information theory, Information security and protection of critical infrastructures, Intelligent energy and mobile electric power networks, Technologies and interactive services, New technologies and uses in information assisted systems, Image and imaging, Energy sustainability and urban metabolism, Vehicle Networks, Knowledge-intensive software, energy, telecommunications and financial services. Several themes of the Future Internet had already been considered in the Forum for the Information Society – Future Internet organized on 10 May 2010 by The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).

Regarding Marine Resources and Technologies for the Exploration of the Ocean, of note are: Offshore Energy, Prospecting petroleum resources in the deep sea: modelling of the subsurface by geophysical and geo-statistical methods, Marine biodiversity and sustainability, Marine Ecosystems, Technologies and monitoring of the deep sea, Offshore aquaculture and cultures, Robotics and deep sea exploration, Which scientific strategy for the deep sea?.

Medicine and Health including the following: New medical therapies, Nutrition, health and food safety, Clinical research in neuroscience, Emerging tropical diseases, Biomechanics, medical devices and functional medicine.

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology is to be covered in the following sessions: Nanosciences, Nanotechnology and microelectronics, Nanomaterials.

For Energy Production, besides the problems cited in marine resources for offshore energy and oil resources of the deep sea, topics considered include materials, technologies and systems for photovoltaic solar energy and bio-energy and biofuels.

Transportation and Logistics are covered in sessions given over to: Railway transportation, technologies and systems, Transportation platforms and logistics, Materials, technologies and systems for aeronautics.

Other topics to be considered in addition to those already mentioned are: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Biodiversity, Genomics, Ecology and cork oak forest production, Sustainable management of agricultural resources, Sustainable materials and processes, Natural, geological, seismic and fire hazards, Forecasting and modelling in meteorology, Climate and climate change, Mathematical Games and optimisation, Applied partial differential equations, Space technology and systems, What type of scientific strategy for Europe? High energy physics, Lasers, plasmas and fusion, Design engineering and advanced manufacturing processes, the Economy of technological change, Crisis, the Economy and social innovation, Cities, identities and participation, Science in the construction of citizenship, the Dynamics and Trajectories of social change: the role of science and scientists, History and historiography of the 1st Republic and republicanism, Research in arts and design.

The growing importance of science and technology to the economy in Portugal, as a knowledge-based economy is being affirmed globally and clearly, and is also shown by the more than 60 companies participating in the debates, in the plenary session dedicated to Energy including a talk from the CEO of GALP, Dr. Manuel Ferreira de Oliveira, who has underlined the importance of scientific research for economic activities related to energy and in particular for the prospecting and exploration of oil reserves, and in the session especially dedicated to companies and technology transference. New technology–based companies – Knowledge-based, human resources and internationalization; Knowledge-intensive services - Software, energy, telecommunications and financial services, New forms, looks and uses for cork: a scientific strategy, Bio-Teams - from lab to market, Technology transfer and commercialization - professionalism and expertise of back offices. Companies that have joined with scientists and made presentations or participated in several sessions in terms of chairing sessions include a wide range of innovative companies that stand out for their production based on knowledge and technology: Alert, Alfama, Alstom Portugal, Amorim, ANA, Analog Business Group Synopsys Inc., APL, APS, Aquacria, Bioalvo, Biodivices, Biotecnol, Brisa, Continental Mabor, Coreworks, CP Carga, Createsolid, Creative Systems, Critical Software, Deimos Engenharia, Dropnil, Edisoft, EDP, Efacec, Efacec Engenharia, EMEF, Eurotrials, Feedzai, Galp, Galp Energia, GMV, Grupo Luis Simões, Innovnano, Inovisa, Log-Z, LusoSpace, Martifer, Matera, Medbone, Nokia Siemens Networks, Novabase, Oceanlinx, OGMA, Omnidea, Otlis, Portucel, Priberam, PT Inovação, REFER, Silicongate, Solar Plus, Tekever, TMG Automotive, Unicer, Vicaia, WEE Solutions, Wizi, YDreams, Zon Multimédia. The creation of companies based on science and technology by students and researchers in higher education has from 2005 been supported by the NEOTEC initiative – New Technology Based Companies by The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) conceived and co-funded by UMIC and the Operational Programme and Knowledge Society and carried out through AdI – The Innovation Agency (site in Portuguese).

The Meeting also included a session specifically dedicated to scientific and technological cooperation with the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP - Comunidades dos Países de Língua Portuguesa), and highlighted innovative initiatives at the Doctoral and Post-Doctoral level in the Global Science Programme (text in Portuguese), launched by Portugal within the framework of the setting up of the UNESCO Advanced Training Centre for Scientists from Portuguese Speaking Countries (text in Portuguese) proposed for Portugal in the Meeting of CPLP Ministers of Science, Technology and Higher Education which took place in Lisbon on 29 August 2009, and aimed at the needs of the countries, and not only individual researchers, from a developmental perspective with the institutional help of various countries. In particular, special importance is given to cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. This drawing closer to Africa through scientific and technological cooperation has already taken place through UMIC activities such as the organization of the conference on "Knowledge, Empowerment and Technology Transfer" in the 3rd Running of the Development Days on Knowledge, Empowerment and Technology Transfer (text in Portuguese), participation in the 1st National Angolan Conference on S&T in October 2009 , participation in the 1st Forum for Euro-African Cooperation in ICT Research in March 2009 and the 2nd of these Forums in February 2010.

In sessions focusing on issues of the Internet of the Future presentations included the following topics:

Introduction to Technologies of the Internet of the Future

• Automatic Network Management (video1, presentation1)
• Convergent Communication Network Systems (video2, presentation2)
• Platforms for the Development of Architectures for the Internet of the Future (video3, presentation3)
• Network Codification for the Internet of the Future
• Future Mobile Communications Systems
• Tolerant and Intrusion in Ad-hoc Systems (video4, presentation4)

e-Ciência

• Network and e-Science Services provided by FCCN
• LHC/CERN Computing in a World Grid
• IBERCIVIS, an open platform for volunteer computing for Science and Scientific Communication, illustrated by the search for drugs in amyloid diseases
• Theoretical Spectroscopy Based on Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory
• Massively Parallel and Large-Scale Numerical Modelling for High Density Energy Phenomena
• Cloud Computing: from implementation to scientific applications
• A National Bioinformatics Network and a New Platform for Biotechnology

New applications of information theory

• Fundamental Limitations of One-Shot Communication (presentation5)
• Machine Learning in Language Technologies
• Information Theory in Energy Systems (presentation6)
• Filter Design with Secrecy Constraints (presentation7)
• Quantum Information Theory

Information security and protection of critical infrastructures

• A Platform for Information Sharing between Critical Interdependent Infrastructures (presentation8)
• Network Security (presentation9)
• MAC Protocols for Wireless Mobile Sensor Networks (presentation10)
• Quantum attacks
• Network Coding for Resilient Networks

Intelligent energy networks and electrical mobility

• The InovGrid project: priorities and development (presentation11)
• Distributed Sensing for Smart Grids (presentation12)
• The SINAIS Project (presentation13)
• Multi-grids as Smart Structures (presentation14)
• Advanced Management of Vehicle to Grid Integration (presentation15)
• Location-Aware Sensing in Smart Networks (presentation16)

Technologies and interactive services

• Story Tags:An alternative based on narratives (presentation17)
• Embodied Interactions (presentation18)
• Designing Sustainable Services (presentation19)
• Interactive Emotions, From Film to Videogames
• Interactive Multimedia (presentation20)
• Applications in Cultural Heritage
• The Future of TV (presentation21)

Image and Medical Imaging

• Molecular Medicine Technology in Oncology- PET-Mammography (presentation22)
• The analysis of Medical Imaging to support computer diagnosis (presentation23)
• Advanced Computing and Medical Imaging (presentation24)
• Blind Deblurring of Natural Images (presentation25)
• Grid Computing for Breast Cancer Computer Aided Diagnosis: a Pilot Experience in a Medical Environment (presentation26)

New Technologies and Practices in Information Assisted Systems

• The Win-Win Partnership for the Public and Private Sectors and for People (presentation27)
• A4D – Android for Developing: Why Specific Solutions for the Mobile Internet in Africa Matter (presentation28)
• Assistive Communication @ Work: Why does Assistive ICT Help People to Work Better/Longer (presentatio29)
• Assistive Communication @ Home: How can we Handle the Zoo of Devices in Non–Technical Home Environments (presentation30)

Energy sustainability and urban metabolism

• Energy Demand Side Management in the Urban Environment (presentation31)
• Smart Metering as a Tool to Promote Energy Efficiency: an Energy Company Perspective (presentation32)
• Strategies for the Design of Net Zero Energy Balance Buildings (presentation33)
• Urban Metabolism: The Lisbon case study (presentation34)
• Multiscale Energy Models for Designing Energy Systems with Electric Vehicles (presentation35)
• Environmental Impacts of Electric Vehicles (presentation36)

Vehicular Networks

• Virtual Traffic Lights
• Vehicle Delay-Tolerant Networking: an Introduction
• Intelligent Transportation Systems
• Communications between vehicles: How to Get to Know and Utilise Influential Factors to Optimize Communication
• Vehicles as Obstacles in Vehicular Networks (presentation37).

The Meeting’s aim was to contribute to public dissemination of Science in Portugal, and to stimulate scientific cooperation and promote dialogue between scientists and society, and as such there were various sessions dedicated to the Ciência Viva activities.

This four-day meeting provided a meeting point and exchange of knowledge among the Portuguese scientific community and a good opportunity to get to know the work of Portuguese scientists in their most pertinent areas of activity.