FCT and Google support Portuguese research in AI

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and Google recently established a collaboration agreement that aims to support research projects in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Portugal, over the next two years. This support, which translates into the provision of credits for AI services on the Google Cloud platform worth US$2 million, will be granted through a Call for projects to be launched by FCT in September this year. The presentation of this partnership will be made today, July 19, in an online session.

For the first phase of this support, priority subareas of research within AI were identified as Natural Language Processing, namely the creation of computational models and tools for the Portuguese language, and Responsible AI, which aims to develop systems that follow ethical principles and allow for the explainability of their behavior. In the second year, the aim is to increase and expand this initiative, aiming to create an ecosystem to support AI research and innovation activities in Portugal.

The development of Artificial Intelligence research in these subareas allows, for example, to make access to information and communication between languages, cultures and skills available on a large scale, and Portugal already has great success stories in this field, such as Unbabel and Priberam.

This collaboration with Google will complement the existing support provided by FCT within the scope of RNCA – National Network for Advanced Computing , which provides high-performance computing resources through its operational centers: Minho Advanced Computing Center (MACC), Advanced Computing Laboratory of the University of Coimbra (LCA-UC), High Performance Computing of the University of Évora (HPC-UÉ) and National Infrastructure for Distributed Computing (INCD).

Fernando Pereira, Google Vice President, Engineering Fellow, said of the partnership, “Technology has an important role to play in building an inclusive, sustainable and green recovery. Public-private partnerships are the foundation of this work, and Google continues to join forces with the Portuguese government to ensure that no one is left behind in the digital transition.”

Today, July 19, at 6 pm, FCT and Google will host an online session entitled “Artificial Intelligence Research in Portugal”, in which details of this joint collaboration to support research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be presented. The session will feature the participation of Paulo Quaresma, Member of the FCT Board of Directors, Fernando Pereira, Google Vice President, Engineering Fellow, will be moderated by Helena Martins, from Google, and will open with a speech by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor.