INESC TEC becomes a partner of the North regional agenda for the nanotechnologies

INESC TEC becomes a partner of the North regional agenda for the nanotechnologies

INESC TEC claims its position as partner of the Norte Portugal Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N) in the elaboration of a regional agenda to establish nanotechnologies, advanced materials and production technologies (NMP) for the manufacturing industry.

16th November 2018

João Claro, member of INESC TEC’s Board, and José Coelho Rodrigues, researcher of the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CITE), are part of the working group for debating the action plan for the improvement of public policy instruments in the northern region of Portugal.

The work is part of an European Interregional Cooperation Project, NMP – REG (Delivering Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials and Production to Regional Manufacturing), which, in addition to INESC TEC and the Portuguese partners, CCDR-N and International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), includes teams from Germany, Belgium, Italy and Romania.

In July, the researchers from INESC TEC had the opportunity to participate in an inter-regional meeting in Romania, organised by the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding. After that meeting, an initial version of the regional diagnosis on the establishment of NMP in the northern region was established.

Training and qualified labour absorption still diverging

From the preliminary conclusions, José Coelho Rodrigues highlights the "gradual alignment between the scientific system and the innovation ecosystem" and the fact that the regional research and innovation system includes "entities of reference in NMP, present in international networks and that are capable of meeting the main business needs”.

The diagnosis presents the northern region with "a diverse business fabric, including potential users of NMP technologies in both traditional and emerging sectors". However, "there is still little alignment between the provision of advanced training in this area and the ability to accommodate qualified workers in companies (namely doctorates)", states the INESC TEC’s researcher.

Finally, José Coelho Rodrigues mentions that there is a "funding support system capable of dealing with short-term business problems", but providing "little support for the production and establishment of NMP technologies" and that "the support for entrepreneurship and development of business in this area doesn’t meet, in the most appropriate way, the existing needs of the region”.

At the end of September, the diagnosis was presented at CCDR-N in a stakeholders meeting of the northern region that was attended by individuals of the scientific and technological system , managing bodies of competitiveness clusters and public entities.

The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC and UP-FEUP.