FCT in 2018 – highlights of a year of achievements

2018 was a year of growth for Science and Technology (S&T) in Portugal, with the highest investment seen since 2010. The new S&T policies initiated in 2016 and 2017 began to bear fruit, particularly in scientific employment, in the connection to the productive fabric, with the creation of Collaborative Laboratories, and in internationalization, particularly in the areas of health, digital technology, and space and Earth observation. It was a year of intense activity, with the launch and implementation of various evaluation and financing mechanisms, such as the new scientific Calls , the implementation of the transitional scientific employment standard, the evaluation of R&D units, the awarding of the CoLAB title, the contracting and financing of almost two thousand R&D projects in all fields, as well as the launch, evaluation, and start of contracting for the Call Studentships . 

With this in mind, FCT is today publishing a summary documentof this activity, in which it reports to the scientific community on its work. The 2019 Calls Calendar is also being released today, so that the community can better plan its research and application submission deadlines. These two documents will now be published annually, so that the FCT's activities become increasingly transparent.