Countries request access to data and publications on the new coronavirus

A broad group of global science and technology policy makers, including the Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, and the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, are calling on leading scientific societies to voluntarily and immediately make available all publications and data relating to the new coronavirus, which gave rise to the COVID-19 pandemic, in public repositories and/or in digital format.

The letter recalls that, in light of the current global health crisis, it is essential that all information collected and relevant knowledge about the pandemic be openly accessible, allowing for its processing and reuse, with a view to rapidly and comprehensively characterizing the virus and combating it.

This move follows a series of digital contacts and meetings in recent days, involving the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, Mariya Gabriel; the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) of the United States of America; Brazil's Minister of Science and Technology, Marcos Pontes; Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Hagiuda Koichi; and Australia's Minister of Education, Dan Tehan.

The Minister of Science, Technology, and Higher Education (MCTES), Manuel Heitor, and the Minister of Science, Innovation, and Universities of Spain, Pedro Duque, actively participated in this process, in close collaboration with several other European ministers.

At the same time, on March 24, a meeting was organized between all the directors-general for science and technology at European level, in which Portugal participated through the FCT and the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB), and during which the situation described in the following statement was presented.