The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology announced in Ponta Delgada the launch of a contest, amounting to 50 thousand Euros, in order to support the publication of scientific issues intended to "stimulate regional scientific production."
 
Gui Menezes spoke on the sidelines of a visit to the Centre of Applied Economics Studies of the Atlantic (CEEAplA), where he met with the director and research teams. He stated that "politics [of the Regional Government] must ensure some predictability and regularity" in the support to science so that "researchers and students may know on what they may rely in terms of support for their theses and research papers.”
 
The tender for support to scientific issues will be open from Wednesday, March 22. It covers the publication of scientific articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals as well as periodic and non-periodic scientific publications, including books, chapters, magazines and minutes of scientific meetings.
 
Gui Menezes also pointed out that the Government will launch a tender for the financing of scientific research projects in mid 2017, being in line with the Strategy for the Smart Specialisation of the Azores (RIS3). It represents an estimated amount of 2.9 million Euros for three years.
 
Under the last similar tender, launched in 2015, CEEAplA received funding for three research projects, amounting to over 400 thousand Euros.
 
Gui Menezes stated that the research projects that are being developed by CEEAplA are "well suited to the regional situation, especially to the tourism sector"; the latter is one of the axes of RIS3. The government official added that they are "expected to be useful to support the decision-making process in this area."
 
The Secretary for Science stated that scientific work "is a concern" of the Regional Government, stressing that the Azores have "research teams that already have some projection, which is important to the Region."
 
In this context, Gui Menezes pointed out that "we do not want to lose the teams with senior researchers, so they will have to be supported with other mechanisms."
 
"This is our concern," the government official said, adding that he intends to "meet with all partners linked to the field of science."
 
"We want to listen and gather suggestions so that we can do better," said the Regional Secretary.
 
Speaking to journalists, Gui Menezes also said the Azores are likely to have a Sea Satellite Account. It will "provide very useful information for political decision-making process" to the extent that it will "measure the real value "of the Azores Sea and "redevelop policies in order to enhance this resource."
 
With this visit to Centre of Applied Economics Studies of the Atlantic, the Regional Secretary started a round of visits to regional research centres with the aim of promoting contact with researchers and become acquainted with the research lines under development.
 
CEEAplA promotes fundamental and applied scientific research in the areas of economic and business sciences. In 2014, it was awarded the "Good" classification by the Foundation for Science and Technology.