UT Austin|Portugal Program: second international partnership renewed

The memorandum of understanding that guarantees the continuity of the UT Austin|Portugal Program for the next five years was signed on November 5, 2012, representing an investment of €2 million per year by the Foundation for Science and Technology(*).

Started in 2007, the UTAustin|Portugal Program has enabled collaboration between the University of Texas at Austin and universities and research centers in Portugal, focusing on three specific academic areas - Digital Media, Advanced Computing and Mathematics - as well as the creation of a business network for the commercialization and internationalization of science and technology produced in Portugal - UTEN (University Technology Enterprise Network). Over the last five years, the Program has brought together more than 40 professors and researchers and 120 students from various Portuguese institutions, including universities, research centers and laboratories, who have benefited from regular visits to the University of Texas at Austin, where they have had the chance to study and deepen their doctoral projects.

The UTEN network will be a major focus for the second phase of this partnership. On the foundations created by UTEN, a nationwide technology and knowledge transfer program will be developed, with the aim of enabling Portuguese companies to benefit from the results of research projects and contributing to the professionalization of technology transfer activity.

The UTAustin|Portugal Program stands out in particular for its efforts to connect the academic world with national companies, which the partnership has fostered. Through the CoLab (International Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies), several initiatives have already been carried out in partnership with companies such as ZON (ZON Creativity in Multimedia Award) and YDreams, resulting in added value for the companies and the Program community.

After the renewal of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program, this is the second international partnership to guarantee its continuity for another five years, revealing the Ministry of Education and Science's commitment to supporting and following up on the work carried out in these partnerships.

It is expected that the agreement to renew the MIT-Portugal Program, also for five years, will be signed in 2012 and that the second phase of these three partnerships will start in January 2013. The first phase of the Fraunhoffer-Portugal program (with Germany) and the partnership with Harvard Medical School are still ongoing, with their renewals scheduled for 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Based on the evaluation carried out by the Academy of Finland, the second phase of the partnerships foresees a greater emphasis on joint research projects between universities/research centers and companies, aimed at solving concrete problems and in which students and researchers participate. This will shift the focus from postgraduate training and the creation of critical mass to strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship.

* The event was attended by the President of FCT, Miguel Seabra, the National Director of the Program, Nuno Correia, the Director at the University of Texas, Robert Peterson, as well as representatives of some Portuguese universities involved in this partnership between Portugal and the University of Texas at Austin.