Porto, Portugal, Nov. 20, 2024 (Lusa) - The new INESCTEC.OCEAN centre, led by the Portuguese Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC), with an investment of over €30 million, aims to be an "international reference" in ocean engineering, it was announced on Wednesday.
"Over the next six years, INESCTEC.OCEAN will promote the development of emerging ocean sectors, such as offshore renewable energies, deep sea monitoring, environmental impact assessment of human activities at sea or offshore aquaculture," said INESC TEC, from Porto, in a statement.
The centre of excellence in research and engineering for the sea will also "promote research and development in these areas, the creation of a network of onshore and offshore technological infrastructures to develop and test technology, the advanced training of human resources, and bringing science closer to the business world, stimulating science-based innovation".
INESCTEC.OCEAN will also have "an impact on sectors considered traditional, such as fisheries or port and logistics activity".
The aim is for INESCTEC.OCEAN to become "an international reference in the field of ocean engineering", and by 2031 its activity is expected to exceed €20 million, adds INESC TEC.
Until then, the Centre of Excellence will be incubated at INESC TEC for at least four years.
INESCTEC.OCEAN will be "Portugal's first centre of excellence in research and engineering for the sea" and is the result of an application to the Teaming for Excellence call under Horizon Europe's Widening programme.
The funding of more than €30 million includes €15 million "from the European Union's Horizon Europe Programme and the rest from the Portuguese Government, through the Foundation for Science and Technology and funds from different sources".
"Led by INESC TEC, the project, which will take place between 2025 and 2031, involves Fórum Oceano, the Portuguese Sea Cluster, and APDL - Administração dos Portos do Douro, Leixões e Viana do Castelo," says INESC TEC.
Internationally, INESCTEC.OCEAN has "the participation of the Norwegian R&D Centre SINTEF.OCEAN, the main Norwegian research and development centre in the field of the sea, with more than 70 years of experience".
"Our aim is to find the means to take existing infrastructures to the next level, such as the Hub Azul in Leixões I, TEC4Sea, or the test platform in Aguçadoura, Póvoa de Varzim," explains José Manuel Mendonça, who is responsible for coordinating the INESCTEC.OCEAN application and former chairman of INESC TEC's Board of Directors.
Taking advantage of the country's central location on the Atlantic Ocean, INESCTEC.OCEAN envisages "the creation of four scientific programmes, in collaboration with industry, dedicated to fields of knowledge such as Marine Structures, Marine Robotics, Ocean Energy and Ocean Data"
To this must be added "the active participation in more than 50 co-operation projects with industry, so that we can respond to the needs of the market," said José Manuel Mendonça.
INESC TEC points out that Portugal has a coastline of around 2,500 kilometres and one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world - the fifth largest in Europe - which extends over 1.7 million square kilometres and represents 95% of the national territory.
The maritime triangle between mainland Portugal and the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores makes up 48% of all the marine waters adjacent to the European continent, it adds.
"Our territory has privileged conditions for the development of the Blue Economy and will now be able to count on a Centre of Excellence, which aims to leverage all this potential through research and ocean engineering," explains José Manuel Mendonça.
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