Portugal has already received 179.6 M€ from the EU's Widening program to support research and innovation

Portugal has raised 179.6 M€ in the European Union's (EU) Widening program , out of a total of 202 projects approved with 172 national coordinations, and the trend is growing. In the previous framework program (2014-2020), funding was 97.7 M€ and, since 2021, during the new Horizon Europe framework program (2021-2027) 81.9 M€ have already been raised. The national success rate also increased between the two framework programs (up from 25.7% to 39.3%), and it should be noted that it has consistently been well above the European average, which is around 14-15%. The impact on job creation has grown between the two framework programs: of the 200 scientific job opportunities generated since 2014, around half have arisen since 2021.

National participation in Widening has already resulted in the implementation of five Centers of Excellence in Portugal since 2014. BIOPOLIS in the area of biodiversity (Associação BIOPOLIS), MIA-Portugal in the area of active aging (Universidade de Coimbra), and NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), iMM-CARE (Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes) and The Gene Therapy CoE at the Center of Portugal (UCoimbra), which will develop projects in the area of health.

COST, one of the Widening program's actions, has benefited an average of more than 1,500 researchers annually and attracted more than 2,000 foreign researchers to Portugal for networking and mobility actions between 2014 and 2022.

The Widening program is one of the key instruments for strengthening national innovation ecosystems, promoting partnerships of excellence at international level and contributing to the strengthening of the European Research Area.

About the Widening program

The Widening program aims to support EU countries with indicators below the European average in terms of research and innovation, in order to improve the performance of their research and innovation systems. During the Horizon 2020 framework program (2014-2020), national participation in Widening was monitored through the National Innovation Agency (ANI). From 2021, under Horizon Europe, monitoring of national participation has been carried out by the FCT.