The President of the Government visited today the Terceira Science and Technology Park - TERINOV. On the occasion, he announced that the Council of the Government has already approved the first phase of the public tender for the allocation of spaces to the companies wishing to be installed in this infrastructure, an investment over 10 million Euros.

"The Council of the Government approved this Monday the launch of the first phase of the public tender with this purpose so that TERINOV may enter into operation by mid 2019," said Vasco Cordeiro on the second day of the Government's working visit to Terceira Island.

Speaking to journalists, the President of the Government also stated that the construction phase of TERINOV has already been completed and that the public tender has already been launched for the acquisition of furniture and equipment.

"So far, more than forty companies have already showed interest in setting up here. These companies from diverse backgrounds have responded to the challenge launched in key areas for the Region that TERINOV is addressing," said the President of the Government.

On the occasion, Vasco Cordeiro also announced that the Government will soon launch a tender for the construction of a new building at São Miguel Science and Technology Park - NONAGON since its current capacity is exhausted. As for Faial Island, the installation process of the Atlantic Observatory is under development.

On the second day of this working visit to Terceira, the President of the Government also visited two projects approved under the Azores 2020 Operational Programme aligned with the RIS3 strategy, which are being implemented on the Terceira Campus of the University of the Azores.

These projects were funded by the Regional Government in the amount of 150 thousand Euros each. One consists of climate change projections in the Azores for the 21st century. In turn, the other focuses on the evaluation of bovine embryonic metabolism as a strategy to predict the success of gestation, aiming at the creation of competitive knowledge, particularly in bovine embryos of high genetic quality, which will add value to the product.

According to the President of the Government, these are two of the 22 projects approved in the first edition of the call to support research projects aligned with the Research and Innovation Strategy for the Smart Specialisation of the Region (RIS3), with an overall allocation of 2.9 million Euros for three years.

The second edition of the call to support scientific research projects was launched this year and the results will be known before the end of the year.

Regarding the first edition, Vasco Cordeiro announced the increase of global investment of about 14%, from 2.9 million Euros to 3.3 million Euro. The amount allocated per project will increase from 150 thousand Euros to 180 thousand Euros.

"This falls within a series of measures implemented by the Regional Government in order to create the conditions for the development of these projects, the promotion of scientific employment and the conduction of relevant research to the Region," said Vasco Cordeiro.