Abuja hosts 1st Portugal Nigeria Science and Technology Meeting

The first Portugal Nigeria Science and Technology Meeting is taking place today and tomorrow, December 4 and 5, in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The meeting is linked to Nigeria's participation in the AIR Center (Atlantic International Research Centre). The agenda is available here.

The event brings together researchers and companies from Portugal and Nigeria from various sectors of activity, including space sciences and technologies, biotechnology and the application of natural products in the health, marine and industrial sectors, production technologies and industrial cooperation, renewable energies and energy efficiency.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES), Manuel Heitor, and his Nigerian counterpart Christopher Ogbonnaya Onu, will be present on December 4.

The Portuguese delegation also includes Nuno Simões, from UAVision, Francisco Vilhena da Cunha, from TEKEVER, Nuno Borges Carvalho, from the Telecommunications Institute and the University of Aveiro, Ana Morgado, from the University of Lisbon, Mário Rui Pinho, from the University of the Azores, Amílcar António and Taofiq Oludemi, from the Polytechnic of Bragança, and Maria Manuel Gil, from the Polytechnic of Leiria, as well as Ana Noronha from Agência Ciência Viva.

Nigeria is Africa's second largest economy, with almost 200 million inhabitants. It is one of the countries taking part in the creation of the AIR Center, with plans to set up a center for space technology applications.

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