The participation of the Azores in the “Open Days - European Week of the Regions and Cities”, happening in Brussels, allows improving the visibility of the work that has been developed in the Region in several aspects, constituting, also, an opportunity of diffusion of the regional political reality, namely in the power of the active participation in the Community matters.

The opinion was shown, today, by the regional director for European Affairs and External Cooperation, in a press conference together with the people in charge of the Commission of Development of the Region Lisbon and Valley of the Tagus, to which the Azores are associated in the conglomerate “Competitiveness in the Water Network - Innovatory Sea Economy”, fitted in the area “Innovatory Regions: Promotion of the investigation, technological development and innovation”, which presentation is in charge of the Portuguese participation in the Open Days 2008.

Rodrigo Oliveira still pointed out the importance of the participation in a conglomerate devoted to the innovation connected with the sea, alleging that it “reinforces the image of the Azores, not only as a region with very specific conditions, but, above all, as a space of opportunities, of innovation and an added value for the European Union”.

In the framework of the “investigation of the sea technologies the performance of the University of the Azores (UAç) is an example to keep”, he considered.

As part of the conglomerate in which the Region participates, Ricardo Serrão Santos, director of the Oceanography and Fishing Department of the UAç, presents, on Thursday, an intervention on “Advancements in the Study of the Deep Sea in the Azores: Prospective for the Biotechnology”.