Eureka meets the Atlantic 01

On the 29th June 2021, the first event under the Portuguese Eureka Chairmanship 2021 / 2022, “Eureka Meets the Atlantic through Space-Ocean-Earth collaborative innovations” took place in Lisbon.

This was the first of a five-events series “Eureka Meets the Atlantic” and was held within the conference “Ciência 2021”, the largest annual meeting in Portugal that debates the latest trends in science and innovation, and included the participation of several public institutions and private companies from all over the world.

The session began at 02:00 PM WEST, with remarks from Emir Sirage, AIR Centre and NPC Chair for the Portuguese Eureka Chairmanship, Miguel Bello Mora, AIR Centre and Chairperson for the Portuguese Eureka Chairmanship and Ulrich Schuh, Chair of the Eureka Network. Divided into three panels, the first roundtable was entitled Showcases of Space-Ocean-Earth collaborative research and innovation and was moderated by Paulo Ferrão, HLR for the Portuguese Eureka Chairmanship 2021 / 2022. Sharing their presentations and views on the subject, were Guillermo Lamelas (Alén Space), Catarina Milhazes (Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação – SPI), Florinda Matos (University Institute of Lisbon, Intellectual Capital Association) and Tiago Cristóvão (Undersee).

How International cooperation in R&D and innovation will foster economic growth and sustainability was the theme of the second roundtable, moderated by Emir Sirage and in which participated Rita Silva, Deputy NPC Chair / NPC for the Portuguese Eureka Chairmanship 2021 / 2022, João Mourinho (Sistrade), Ricardo Vitorino (Ubiwhere), Luís Conceição (Sparos), Christina Deligianni (Pelagic Data) and Isabel Praça (Instituto Superior de Engenharia – ISEP).

Last but not the least, the prompt for the final panel was Portugal, Europe and the evolving nature of Eureka, with Ana Neves, Deputy Chairwoman for the Portuguese Eureka Chairmanship 2021 / 2022, showcasing previous cases of success within Eureka, and discussing how the network has evolved. This panel had the interventions of Joana Mendonça (ANI), Rodrigo Pascoal (Critical Software), Greg Duggan (Abalobi), Maria Inês Costa (Kaffa) and José Paulo Esperança, FCT and Deputy HLR for the Portuguese Eureka Chairmanship 2021 / 2022.

The session ended with remarks by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, highlighting the importance of the contributions the Eureka network brings as well as the relevance of the themes tackled during this first “Eureka Meets the Atlantic”.

The “Eureka meets the Atlantic through Space-Ocean-Earth collaborative innovations” events aim to be a platform for international dialogue, project ideation, global business partnerships, add value to the Eureka label and showcase innovations that include existing and new actors, promoting scientific and technological projects and applications, products and services for the inclusive benefit of the international communities working towards a greener, digital and healthier planet.