Portugal and Norway align research strategies in marine sciences and technologies

Portugal and Norway share strategic, scientific and economic interests in the sea: both countries enjoy natural marine resources, both have jurisdiction over vast maritime areas (in the case of Portugal, the country holds one of the largest exclusive economic zones of maritime space in Europe, with more than 1,700,000 ^km2, equivalent to 18 times its continental plate). Both are sea-facing nations, with populations concentrated in coastal regions, and strong contributions from these regions and/or sea-related activities to their GDPs. In addition, Portugal and Norway have similar marine ecosystems, geo-location, scientific areas and maritime economies in many respects. In order to take advantage of these complementarities and promote mutual benefits, FCT and its Norwegian counterpart, the Research Council of Norway (RCN), signed the Memorandum of Understanding for Scientific and Technological Cooperation in Marine Sciences and Technologies in May.

The Memorandum of Understanding establishes cooperation with Norway in the area of marine sciences and technologies as a priority, starting next year. The Memorandum sets out some of the measures planned to implement this cooperation: joint financing of R&D projects, the organization of seminars, symposia, workshops and other scientific meetings between research centers and companies in both countries (with a view to producing a cooperation roadmap), the exchange of researchers and technical staff, and incentives for companies to get involved in knowledge transfer and innovation. The Memorandum also provides for the exchange of information and good practices between the public agencies involved in the cooperation, so that they are better acquainted with similar systems and can thus ensure effective support for the collaborative process. 

Within the broad field of marine sciences and technologies, the Memorandum now signed covers the following areas: marine biotechnology, food (fisheries, aquaculture and industrial processing), the environment (marine ecosystems, environmental management, pollution and climate change), underwater technologies and offshore systems, the deep sea (including ocean floor mining), offshore energy (including fossil fuels, renewables and methane hydrates). 

In addition to bilateral collaborations between Portugal and Norway, multilateral cooperation will also involve consolidating joint positions and boosting the positions of both countries in the Horizon 2020 framework program and other collaborative platforms, such as the Joint Programming Initiatives, ERA-NET, the EUROSTARS program, and the joint marine initiatives of the European Institute of Technology, where both Portugal and Norway already have strong presences.

The Economy of the Sea - a global priority for Portugal

For some time now, the sea has been the focus of attention in various international forums, due to its considerable resources (transportation, communication, food, biotechnology, energy, geology and genetics) and the ecological services it offers (for example, climate regulation, storage and recycling of pollutants). In Portugal, the sea was defined as a national priority in 1998 through the creation of a specific funding program. Under the responsibility of the FCT, between 2000 and 2004 this program brought together various funding instruments that until then had been dispersed, and made it possible to create a critical mass in the field of marine sciences and technologies, which has continued to this day.

In 2006, the National Strategy for the Sea. Revised in 2013 (after public consultation), the strategy sets out the national vision for economic, social and cultural development, based on the preservation and sustainable use of ocean resources and services, underpinned by cutting-edge scientific research and innovation.

The Economy of the Sea is thus one of the 15 strategic priorities of the National Research and Innovation Strategy for Intelligent Specializationsupported by various studies, including the analysis of the national R&I system carried out by FCTwhich show that Portugal has a competitive advantage in maritime R&I (in areas such as fisheries, marine biology, oceanography and maritime engineering) and has a high level of economic, scientific and technological specialization in this area.

The FCT Ocean Office

According to Telmo Carvalho, coordinator of the recently created FCT Ocean Office, "Today, after 15 years of concerted investment in marine sciences and technologies, Portugal has a well-established and strong scientific community, particularly in areas such as robotics, biotechnology, geology and oil and gas exploration. A solid area of research has been created, which is well placed to contribute to the Economy of the Sea".

The mission of the Ocean Office is to support the FCT Directorate in coordinating programs and funding instruments of interest to marine sciences and technologies, in order to ensure the sustained growth of the critical mass in this field in Portugal, to support the internationalization of this truly multidisciplinary community, and to promote interactions between research and the business fabric. FCT's Ocean Office will therefore play an important role in implementing the Memorandum of Understanding with the Research Council of Norway.