2nd Portugal - Nigeria Science and Technology Week

Portugal hosts the second edition of the Science and Technology Week Portugal - Nigeria, on December 2-4. The event is organized and promoted by Agência Ciência Viva with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the program "GoPortugal - Global Science and Technology Partnerships Portugal" and the "Initiative knowledge for development, ikdf" of the Government of Portugal.

These meetings are part of the process of this country's participation in the creation of the AIR Centre (Atlantic International Research Centre) in the Azores. The first edition took place last year in Abuja, capital of Nigeria. This year Portugal will host the Nigerian delegation, which will make several visits to national research centers.

The programme of the visit will begin at the Pavilion of Knowledge on December 2 with a bilateral meeting between the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, and his Nigerian counterpart, Ogbonnaya Onu. The following days will see visits to national research units by the Nigerian delegation, which is composed of leaders and researchers from various sectors of activity, particularly with regard to space science and technology, biotechnology, veterinary and animal disease research, marine and industry, production technologies and industrial cooperation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and entrepreneurship.

Nigeria is Africa's second largest economy, with almost 200 million inhabitants. It is one of the countries participating in the creation of the AIR Centre, with a pole on applications of space technologies planned.

The AIR Centre (Atlantic International Research Centre) was established in the Florianópolis Declaration, signed on November 20, 2017 in Brazil. It is based on an international and intergovernmental platform oriented towards the development of research activities in the areas of climate, earth, space and oceans, together with the promotion of new economic activities and the creation of skilled jobs in the Atlantic regions.