Six plenary sessions, 18 virtual demonstrations, 47 parallel sessions, 107 communications, 138 speakers, 461 posters. This is the summary of Ciência 2021, the largest national meeting of the scientific community, which took place between June 28 and 30, at Lisbon’s Centro de Congressos. Bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, students and teachers from all levels of education, the event took place in a hybrid format for the second time – with some sessions exclusively face-to-face and others, namely the plenary sessions, face-to-face and online.
Under the motto “The science that creates the future and transforms the economy”, Ciência 2021 promoted the discussion of the main challenges and opportunities of Science made in Portugal and in Europe during the year of restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. From the future of employment to space exploration, from the digital transition to climate change, from artificial intelligence to urban science, several topics were covered in the different stages of the thematic sessions.
This year, the guest country was France, thus highlighting the exchange and scientific cooperation between the two countries, as well as the role of French research and teaching worldwide.
INESC TEC presented work in the field of Advanced Computing
On June 28, Ana Alonso – researcher at INESC TEC’s High-Assurance Software Laboratory (HASLab) – gave a presentation on “Cloud Computing with Privacy Assurance”, during the thematic session “Industry, Innovation and Economic Growth”.
The production, storage and management of large volumes of data is increasingly becoming a reality, and all actors involved end up being vulnerable to potentially harmful exploitation of information. In this sense, this work focuses on developing technology solutions that aim to protect users, evolving in this area by hosting several European research projects, namely PRACTICE and SafeCloud.
Smart robotics in R&D activity demonstrations
“Flexible, adaptable and intelligent robotic solutions” was the work presented by INESC TEC during the demonstrations of scientific activities by the participant institutions, which took place exclusively online.
More specifically, INESC TEC presented the progress made in the field of intelligent robotics, by showcasing the most recent prototypes developed within the scope of cooperation projects with other companies, with application in agriculture, hospitals, SMEs and underwater mining.
Participation in different thematic sessions
On June 29, Luís Seca, member of INESC TEC’s Board of Directors and researcher at the Centre for Power and Energy Systems (CPES), presented the European project InterConnect – the largest European project ever led by a Portuguese institution – within the scope of the session “Research and Innovation in Europe 2021-27 – Portugal-France Cooperation”.
“This was an opportunity to disseminate a key project in the field of digitisation of the electric sector, in line with the theme of Portugal-France cooperation – not only because the project includes large demonstrators from both countries, but also due to the collaboration of Portuguese and French R&D entities and companies towards its implementation, leading to great opportunities for cooperative development and technology transfer”, explained Luís Seca.
Also on June 29, at the Plenary Session 4 – “Science and the new challenges of space-climate interaction: from Earth observation to space weather”, Rui Oliveira – member of INESC TEC’s Board of Directors and Scientific Director of the Minho Advanced Computer Center (MACC) – had the opportunity to present the MACC to all participants (in attendance and online), through a renewed virtual tour, highlighting this national collaborative infrastructure that aims, for instance, to support initiatives in supercomputing and data science. Also, during the event, INESC TEC and INEGI, as promoters of the “Sustainable HPC” project, signed the Incentive Agreement with the Innovation Support Fund (FAI) and the Energy Efficiency Fund (FEE).
During the last day, José Mendonça, Chairman of INESC TEC’s Board of Directors, moderated the session “Research and Innovation in Europe through Horizon Europe – Pillar 2: Missions and partnerships”, with José Carlos Caldeira, member of INESC TEC’s Board of Directors also participating as a speaker.
Finally, the UT Austin Portugal program organised the “Better prepared: Strengthening societies through international scientific collaboration”, which took place in the afternoon of June 30 – with the participation of José Manuel Mendonça and Rui Oliveira, Director and Co-director of the Program in Portugal, respectively, and João Tiago Paulo, researcher at HASLab.
A collective effort dedicated to the future of Science
The Ciência 2021 brought close to 10.000 people online – who, together with the approximately 860 participants who visited the venue during the three days of the event, discussed important ideas to support the country’s recovery in terms of economy, society, and other dimensions.
António Costa, Prime Minister, Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and Mariana Vieira da Silva, Minister of State for the Presidency, participated in the opening session of the event. In addition to Pedro Siza Vieira, Minister of State, the Economy and Digital Transition, and Maria do Céu Antunes, Minister of Agriculture, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Republic, also attended the event, being in charge of the closing session.
The initiative was promoted by the Foundation for Science and Technology, in partnership with Ciência Viva and the Parliamentary Commission on Education and Science, with the institutional support from the Government through the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education.
Photo credits: Encontro Ciência
The INESC TEC researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC, UP-FEUP and UMinho.
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