Building the Future through Knowledge-Based International Cooperation

22^nd November 2017, Florianópolis (Brazil) – More than 200 representatives from seven countries met in Florianópolis (Brazil) on 20 and 21 November at the “2nd High-Level Dialogue between Industry, Science and Government on’ Atlantic Interactions’ – AIR Centre-International Centre for Atlantic Research”.

During the first day, the Ministerial Round Table and Industry-Science-Government Dialogue was held, at which the Florianópolis Agreement was signed following the concluding observations. The agreement is a step forward in cooperation between the signatories to create a multilateral organization in the Azores to investigate climate change, energy systems, space science and data in the Atlantic Ocean. The declaration has 23 signatories, including 11 research associations and 4 industry delegates.

Florianópolis – SC – 20 de novembro 2017 – Ministro da Ciência Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações, Gilberto Kassab, durante a assinatura da Declaração de Florianópolis para implementação do AIR-CENTER. Foto: Ivo Lima/MCTIC

Florianópolis – SC – 20 de novembro 2017 – Ministro da Ciência Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações, Gilberto Kassab, durante a assinatura da Declaração de Florianópolis para implementação do AIR-CENTER. Foto: Ivo Lima/MCTIC

The understanding between countries was considered historic by The Minister of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication, Gilberto Kassab. “The project is born with a lot of energy and vibration. We are walking for a group that tends to be extremely representative and respected. What has been discussed here reflects a convergence of several points that allows us to make this declaration quite harmonious,” he said.

For his part, the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal, Manuel Heitor, said that understanding is a new stage in a process that began 15 months ago with the Declaration of Belém and that the project is open to new partners to take concrete steps and so many participants have come together in this meeting to sign this important document.

In addition to Brazil and Portugal, the memorandum was signed by Angola, Cape Verde, Spain, Niger, Uruguay and the Autonomous Region of the Azores. The next high-level meeting on the AIR Centre is scheduled for May next year in Cape Verde. The signatories of the memorandum of understanding agreed to form and appoint representatives to a steering committee, which will address issues such as governance of the centres and sources of funding.

Climate KIC Spain, in addition to having also signed the Florianópolis Declaration together with the Ministers of Innovation and Science and other government representatives mentioned before, had the opportunity to present Climate-KIC in one of the parallel sessions. In this speech, the Director of the Spanish Centre for Innovation in Climate Change, Jose-Luis Muñoz explained how this European initiative based on innovation and the exchange of knowledge, uses the talent, higher education and the promotion of entrepreneurship to provide concrete solutions and services on climate action.

At the conference, Muñoz pointed out the role and the cooperation and collaboration model set out between the actors in these innovation and knowledge communities supported by the EIT (European Institute of Technology and Innovation. Muñoz highlighted the experience that in Spain is leading with the creation of the EIT Cross-KIC Spain Group, different thematic communities or KICs based in Spain. This initiative has been lead by EIT Climate-KIC Spain, as a collaboration reference to replicate in other countries.

From the two-day debate, it emerges that there is a need to create the right conditions for strengthening international knowledge-based cooperation and that the lessons learned in recent decades from international partnerships in science, technology and higher education, among many other intergovernmental scientific initiatives, have clearly demonstrated that the future can only be built on the basis of an exchange of knowledge, skills and solid ideas.

A new paradigm of structured international research relations is emerging, a new era of government and industrial intervention associated with scientific knowledge, opening the frontiers of interdisciplinary research. In this context, the discussion focused on the possible establishment of an International Research Centre for the Atlantic (AIR Centre) and the two main priorities: new data collection for innovative research; and synergies between space, climate, oceans and information sciences for the production and dissemination of new knowledge.