Call for R&D projects AI 4 COVID-19: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) opens next March 31 the applications to Call for R&D projects "AI 4 COVID-19: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration".

This is the 3rd edition of a program of Calls annually directed towards research in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence applied to Public Administration, which this year is exclusively oriented towards data processing in the context of the current pandemic of the new SARS CoV2 coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease and in the context of the growing situation of uncertainty and social alarm in which we live.

The goal of Call AI 4 COVID-19 is to support scientific research and technological development (S&TD) projects and initiatives that can contribute to responses to this and future pandemics through data science and artificial intelligence, developed in partnership between public administration and R&D institutions, with emphasis on supporting citizens and health care services and entities.

Advances in computing techniques and artificial intelligence allow different sets of microdata to be analyzed in increasingly complex ways, combining them to extract knowledge that was previously inaccessible. The scientific community is essential to develop a model of public administration based on advanced analytical methods that allow the full potential of existing data to be drawn.

This Call complements the support line recently launched by FCT "Research 4 Covid-19" to support R&D activities oriented to immediate applications to fight Covid 19, being now specifically focused on stimulating the development of data processing forms and systems.

The projects may have a duration of 24 to 36 months, with funding of up to 240 thousand euros per project. The allocation for this line of funding now launched will be 3 million euros.

All information about the application process for this new Call AI 4 COVID-19 is available on this page and applications will be open from March 31st to May 28th, 2020.

FCT has recently produced a brochure presenting the IC&DT projects under the Calls program of research in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, for the 2018 and 2019 editions, which can be found here. In these editions 28 projects were approved for funding, on topics as diverse as health, public transport, water resource management or the use of data from the European Space Agency's IPSentinel system. This program is part of the National Initiative Digital Skills e.2030 (Portugal INCoDe.2030) with an overall budget of 10 M€.