The MIT Portugal Programme is celebrating two decades and, over the next five years, will have as co-directors Professors Alexandre Ferreira da Silva, from the School of Engineering of the University of Minho (EEUM), and João Pedro Barreto, from the University of Coimbra (UC).
This fourth phase of the partnership between Portugal – which brings together universities, companies, associations and government agencies – and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States aims to leave a lasting mark on national education, research and innovation. This collaboration has already resulted, for example, in dozens of new companies and patents and several hundred graduates.
The new phase will focus on the areas of Chips/Nanotechnology, Space, Artificial Intelligence and Energy. The programme aims to focus on four main objectives: strengthening the country’s capacity for innovation and competitiveness, promoting cutting-edge science in line with national and European priorities, training a new generation of scientific leaders and entrepreneurs, and transforming innovation in advanced technologies into global market solutions.
“MIT Portugal has had a major impact on young people who, like me, pursued postgraduate studies in this international partnership and now hold prominent positions in their professional careers,” emphasises Alexandre Ferreira da Silva. “The programme has also had a significant impact on Portuguese faculty and researchers by promoting and encouraging collaborative projects on both sides of the Atlantic,” adds the EEUM professor.
It was an MIT Portugal entrepreneurship initiative that led João Pedro Barreto to found a university-based technology start-up. ‘I know from experience that these types of programmes can be profoundly transformative and help us reveal the best in ourselves, whether we are students, scientists, entrepreneurs or businesspeople; in the end, it is this best version of ourselves that will allow us to contribute to a more prosperous and fair country,’ says the professor at the UC Faculty of Science and Technology.
Those responsible want to continue the legacy of the initiative, which has boosted the national scientific and technological system and been a driver of value creation for the economy. MIT Portugal is based on the Azurém campus in Guimarães and has been headed until now by Professor Pedro Arezes of UMinho.
