Rector of UFRN Brazil visits INESC Porto

The Board of INESC Porto welcomed, on 13 May, the Rector of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Brazil, Ivonildo do Rego, and the Adviser for International Affairs, Anamaria Martins Moreira, who came to Portugal to sign an official statement expressing UFRN’s wish to increase its participation in R&D projects in the context of INESC P&D Brazil.

Interviewed by BIP, Ivonildo do Rego stated that he considers UFRN will benefit from “INESC Porto’s respect and tradition, both in Portugal and in the rest of Europe”, namely at the level of new projects. The Dean considers that the university has “a lot to gain” with this project, since, other than INESC Porto, other renowned Brazilian institutions will be joining INESC P&D Brazil, thus providing grounds for what he calls “important exchange processes”.

The constitution of INESC P&D Brazil occurs in a critical moment for the country, marked by a “great joint effort from the government, institutes and business sector, that use knowledge to create innovation”, Ivonildo do Rego explains. INESC P&D Brazil is, in this context, an opportunity that works as a “marriage between universities and companies”, and so it can assume itself “as a reference for the establishment of similar institutions”, the Rector adds. Assured of the virtues that the INESC P&D Brazil model brings, Ivonildo do Rego states that this can also be another path for the development of new R&D policies in Brazil.