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The MIT Portugal Program was launched in October 2006 by the
Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education to
strengthen the country's knowledge base and international competitiveness through a
strategic investment in people, knowledge and ideas. Government funding to MIT
and partner Portuguese institutions supports this unique collaboration.
The program is a high-profile effort to demonstrate that an
investment in science, technology and higher education can have a positive,
lasting impact on the economy by addressing key societal issues through quality
education and research in the emerging field of engineering systems.
As the intellectual foundation for the program, engineering
systems integrates management sciences, economics, and policy in order to
better understand, design, and implement the highly complex, technology-based
systems on which society is increasingly dependent.
The program is supported by a national initiative involving
seven Portuguese universities and 14 research centers that has targeted
sustainable energy systems, transportation systems, bio-engineering systems and
advanced manufacturing as key areas for economic development and societal
impact.
In addition to these four focus areas, an anchor program
includes projects to address fundamental research in engineering systems as
well as flagship projects that integrate research across several of the focus
areas.
Program Assessment
The objectives, framework
and structure of the collaboration were developed during a five month
assessment study conducted by MIT between February and July 2006, which concluded
that the excellence of the research identified in Portuguese research centers
throughout the assessment exercise recommends that MIT foster collaborations
with Portuguese institutions. Also, the study acknowledges that the commitment
of the Portuguese Government in strengthening science and technology and in
promoting international collaborations in higher education and in science and
technology is making Portugal an interesting place for doing research and a
relevant partner for future collaborations in the emerging knowledge-based,
globalized economy.
The assessment involved
extensive discussions and preliminary planning by faculty at MIT and in
Portugal to determine the principle focus areas of investigation as well as key
institutional, operational, financial and technical issues, and has resulted in
two main foci for collaborative agreements. These are:
- a formal, ongoing cooperative arrangement
in the area of management sciences which will be explored in a program design
and planning process concerning a possible multi-year collaboration around
management education and technology-based entrepreneurship; and
- a five-year agreement for research and
education with an engineering systems focus, responding to the increasing size,
scope and complexity of systems in today's global competitive environment.
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