AIR Center is now formally established

The AIR Centre – Atlantic International Research Centre will be formally established today during the second high-level international meeting “Industry-Science-Government Dialogue on Atlantic Interactions – Florianópolis Summit: implementing the Atlantic International Research Centre (AIR Centre)”, which will take place on November 20 and 21 in Brazil. The signing of the “Florianópolis Declaration” will also determine the formation of an installation committee, which will define a financial and implementation plan for this international and intergovernmental platform.

The AIR Centre will be based in the Azores and will serve as a platform for the development of research activities in the areas of climate, land, space, and oceans. It will promote the scientific employment of highly qualified human resources and enable integrated research on the Atlantic. The governments of Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Angola, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Uruguay, and São Tomé and Príncipe are participating in its foundation, together with the regional government of the Azores. The United Kingdom and South Africa are participating in this phase as observer countries.

Several research and technology organizations are also participating, including eurOcean, PLOCAN, the Barcelona Super Computing Center, CEiiA, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Cape Verde, the Marine Institute of Ireland, SINTEF, WavEc, the RAEGE Association of the Azores, INESC TEC, INESC Brasil, the Institute of Biodiversity, and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, as well as multinationals such as Elecnor Deimos, Thales, EDP Inovação, Lusospace, and Tekever.

The meeting is an initiative promoted by the Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, and the Minister of Science, Technology, Innovation, and Communications of Brazil, Gilberto Kassab. It also includes the participation of Argentina's Minister of Science, Technology, and Productive Innovation, Lino Barañao, and Angola's Minister of Higher Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Maria do Rosário Sambo.