Portugal raises nearly seven million euros in European funding for new communications | Innovation
Portugal has raised nearly seven million euros from the European Innovation Council for 13 projects in new technologies, three of which are coordinated by national teams in the areas of health and energy, announced this Tuesday to the National Innovation Agency (ANI).
Funding is granted under the Pathfinder Open Program, which rewards innovative technologies and scientific advances, with Portugal capturing 4% of the total budget of 174 million euros.
Of the 56 projects financed, ten have Portuguese participation in international consortia and three are led by national institutions. Portugal was the third European country “with the highest rate of financing”, according to the president of the ANI, Joana Mendonça, mentioned in a statement by the institution.
According to Joana Mendonça, Portugal achieved a financing success rate of 8%, surpassing the European average rate of 6%. The ANI communiqué highlights the three projects coordinated by Portuguese teams without disclosing the amount of financial support granted.
The i3S – Institute for Research and Innovation in Health of the University of Porto was “awarded” for a project that aims to develop the first prototype of a medical device supported by artificial intelligence to anticipate seizures and automatically administer medication, preventing sudden death in epileptic patients.
The Association for Innovation and Development of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa proposes to develop “innovative technologies for the use of atmospheric moisture for direct conversion into electricity”, to obtain “a new sustainable source of renewable energy”.
The Association of the Instituto Superior Técnico for Research and Development will be funded by the development of a nanoscale X-ray virus imaging microscope.
“The characterization of viral structures and the identification of key proteins involved in each stage of the infection cycle are fundamental for the development of treatments. However, individual virus images can only be run at a few specialized centers in Europe, although all users cannot do so, according to the project’s summary.