Contract signed to renew FCT-MIT partnership for another five years

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) has renewed its partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The agreement, signed this month, formalizes the launch of the second phase of the MIT Portugal Program, approved in late 2012. This pioneering collaboration in the field of education and research, which brings together universities, industry, and government around a common agenda of excellence and innovation, is now assured until 2017.

Launched in 2006, the Program focuses on training highly qualified human resources in science, technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and on developing and implementing projects with high economic and social impact in emerging areas of systems engineering: sustainable energy systems, transportation systems, bioengineering systems, and advanced production methods.

In this second phase, the focus is on strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship through the development and implementation of larger-scale projects in areas of economic relevance and the promotion of "living laboratories" that demonstrate, through concrete projects, the economic and social benefits of partnerships between universities and companies for the development of technology with high commercialization and export potential.

Similarly, training teachers and students in the unique and entrepreneurial environment of MIT aims to stimulate change in higher education in Portugal, with positive repercussions for the Portuguese economy.

Miguel Seabra, President of FCT, expresses his expectations for this second phase of the MIT-Portugal Program: "The challenges ahead are considerable, as the program will have to operate within a smaller budget, but we are confident that the potential in terms of knowledge and products created by the MIT-Portugal Program in the first phase will be realized in this second phase through the application of innovation and entrepreneurship to specific situations in our social fabric."