AIR Centre is now formally established

The AIR Centre - Atlantic International Research Centre will be formally established today during the second international high-level meeting "Industry-Science-Government Dialogue on Atlantic Interactions - Florianopolis Summit: implementing the Atlantic International Research Centre (AIR Centre)", taking place on November 20 and 21 in Brazil. The signing of the "Florianopolis Declaration" will also determine the formation of an installation committee, which will define a financial and implementation plan for this international and intergovernmental platform.

The AIR Centre will be based in the Azores, and will be a platform for the development of research activities in the areas of climate, land, space and ocean. It will promote the scientific employment of highly qualified human resources, and will enable integrated research on the Atlantic. The governments of Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Angola, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Uruguay and São Tomé and Príncipe, together with the regional government of the Azores, are participating in its foundation. The United Kingdom and South Africa are participating in this phase as Observer countries.

Several research and technology organizations are also participating, among which are eurOcean, PLOCAN, Barcelona Super Computing Centre, CEiiA, University of Texas at Austin, University of Cape Verde, Marine Institute of Ireland SINTEF, WavEc, the Azores RAEGE Association, INESC TEC, INESC Brasil, the Institute for Biodiversity and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, and multinational companies such as Elecnor Deimos, Thales, EDP Inovação, Lusospace, and Tekever.

The meeting is an initiative promoted by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, and by the Minister of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications of Brazil, Gilberto Kassab. The Minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation of Argentina, Lino Barañao, and the Minister of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of Angola, Maria do Rosário Sambo, will also participate.