Abuja hosts 1st Portugal Nigeria Science and Technology Meeting

The first Portugal Nigeria Science and Technology Meeting takes place today and tomorrow, December 4th and 5th, in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The meeting is associated with Nigeria’s participation in the AIR Centre (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 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 Institute of Telecommunications 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, in addition to Ana Noronha from the Ciência Viva Agency.

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

The AIR Centre (Atlantic International Research Centre) was established in the Florianópolis Declaration, signed on November 20 in Brazil. It is based on an international and intergovernmental platform aimed at developing 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.