The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology pointed out today the importance of "improving transatlantic cooperation in the study of oceans, climatology and space," adding that "it makes sense to install an international research centre in the Azores."
 
Fausto Brito e Abreu spoke at the second workshop "Atlantic Interactions: Knowledge, Climate Change, Space and Oceans," an event organised by the Foundation for Science and Technology to discuss the creation of a centre of international study on space, climate change and oceans in the Azores.
 
In his speech, Brito e Abreu noted that the archipelago has "infrastructures, knowledge and proximity to events" in these areas of study, noting that "the research centre may be headquartered on Terceira. Nevertheless, it is intended to be spread over several islands, taking advantage of the space infrastructures of Santa Maria, the scientific research infrastructures on oceans of Faial and the infrastructures for the climate study on Graciosa and Pico.
 
The Regional Secretary also said that "the next step" for the implementation of this centres involves the study of its funding through, for example, the Regional Fund for Science and Technology and Community funds, namely the Horizon 2020 programme. He added that international institutions associated with this centre will bring their own funding sources.
 
The Secretary for Science said the European Commission is "very positive" about this effort to create a research centre in the Azores, stressing that the Regional Government will present in Brussels "a research agenda and proposals for infrastructures to be installed" in the Region.
 
The event held today in Ponta Delgada was attended by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, and about fifty experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), NASA as well as from several US and Portuguese institutions and universities.
 
This was the second of a series of three workshops. The first was held in New York in early June and the third will be held in Brussels in the end of September.