The Government of the Azores will double the number of scholarships to support scientific investigation. This measure was announced by the Regional Secretary for Science, Technology and Infrastructures at a press conference this morning.
José Contente added that the Government will invest 1.2 million Euros in 2009 in the awarding of research scholarships. In 2008, 75 scholarships of various types were supported by the Government, from master degrees to post doctorate degrees. The funding will be extended in 2009 to a total of 150 scholarship holders, under the various types of scholarships awarded in the Region, including the Scientific Research Scholarships for young graduates (BIIC), which were introduced this year.
At a press conference for the presentation of the International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), the Secretary also announced that a seminar on Next Generation Networks will take place in the Azores in September.
“The Azores want to keep up, as it happens in other sectors, such as Terrestrial Digital TV, with the best that is done in Mainland Portugal and in the remaining European territory. The NGN (next generation network) will become a reality in the Azores,” said the Secretary.
José Contente stressed that this seminar intends to make the population better acquainted with the advantages and the challenges concerning the next generation networks.
Hence, the Secretary underlined that “we are promoting scientific investigation, mainly the projects that may be advantageous concerning the results and scientific solutions for the Region’s problems.”