FCT joins OECD project on public funding for R&D and innovation

The national registry of funding allocated to R&D and innovation activities in Portugal – SciPROJ –, developed by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through its FCCN Unit, has begun a process of integration into Fundstat, a data infrastructure of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which brings together information from 22 databases from various countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Commission.

Fundstat is an infrastructure for the analysis and international comparison of public funding for R&D and innovation projects, leveraging the wealth of semantic information contained in project data using artificial intelligence tools, namely natural language processing. In addition to producing appropriate information and indicators on funding, this infrastructure aims to analyze the directionality of public funding, identifying emerging scientific and technological areas. In this context, and based on the information already available in Fundstat, public investment in the area of Artificial Intelligence and investment related to the Covid-19 pandemic was recently analyzed, which is awaiting publication.

SciPROJ is the national database, developed under the PTCRIS program, which aggregates national (FCT, QREN, Portugal 2020, and ANI) and international (European Union) funding records that support science and technology activities carried out in Portugal. PTCRIS aims to promote the integration of science management systems from various entities operating in the academic-scientific ecosystem, with a view to complying with the principle of "register once, reuse multiple times." These initiatives are part of the open data policy of FCT and the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education (MCTES).

This sharing will enable information on Portugal to be integrated into future studies carried out by the OECD and information to be obtained on the direction of financing in relevant areas, such as the Green Transition and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The integration of data on R&D and innovation funding in Portugal into this OECD analytical infrastructure is part of the FCT's participation, through its Studies and Planning Division (DEP), in the MARIAD (Management and Analysis of R&D and Innovation Administrative Data) working group. MARIAD was created in 2022 under NESTI (National Experts on Science and Technology Indicators) and aims to use administrative data on R&I funding to inform evidence-based policy decisions.

The OECD has 38 member countries committed to promoting democracy and the market economy, supporting governments in comparing experiences and best practices, coordinating their policies, and seeking answers and solutions to common problems.