Noticias ibéricas

Morant visited the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Braga (Portugal) together with the Portuguese Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato, with whom she then held a bilateral meeting. The INL was created by the governments of Spain and Portugal to promote joint research in nanotechnology and put it at the service of society.

The Minister for Science and Innovation highlighted Spain and Portugal’s commitment to renewable energies and stated that one of the great challenges of clean energies is their storage, which will be addressed with the creation and development in Cáceres (Extremadura) of the Iberian Energy Storage Research Centre, which will be equipped with the most advanced technology in the world and will require an investment of 74 million euros.

Atlantic Constellation

Spain and Portugal will promote the Atlantic Constellation, a joint Earth observation programme that will complement the European Union’s (EU) European Copernicus satellites. This programme involves the launch of 16 satellites, eight for each country.

«We want to improve the capabilities of the space technologies that we already have in the two countries, which are fundamental for the prevention and control of climate emergencies such as fires, which affect both Portugal and Spain,» Morant stressed.

This programme is included in the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) Aerospace coordinated by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, which will mobilise 4.5 billion euros to boost science and innovation in the aerospace sector.

Scientific production in collaboration between Spain and Portugal

Last, Morant referred to the scientific production carried out in the last decade between the two countries and pointed out that this has doubled with respect to the previous 10-year period and is of higher quality, given that 25% of this production is among the most consulted articles by the scientific community.