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 since 2010. The new S&T policies launched in 2016 and 2017 began to produce results, particularly in terms of scientific employment, links to the productive fabric with the creation of Collaborative Laboratories, and internationalization, particularly in the areas of health, digital and space and Earth observation. It was a year of intense activity, with the launch and operationalization of various evaluation and funding mechanisms, such as the new Calls scientific employment, the operationalization of the transitional rule for scientific employment, the evaluation of R&D Units, the award of the CoLAB title, the contracting and funding of almost two thousand R&D projects in all areas, as well as the launch, evaluation and start of contracting of the 2018 Call for PhD Studentships . 

With this in mind, the FCT is today publishing a document summarizing its activities, in which it informs the scientific community of its work. Also released today is the Calendar of Calls for 2019, so that the community can better plan its research and when to submit applications. These two documents should now be published annually, so that FCT's activities become increasingly transparent.