Regional Director for European Affairs highlights multiplier potential of the Forward project for Outermost Regions
The Regional Director for European Affairs considered today that the Forward project sets the bar very high, not only in the Azores but in all Outermost Regions.
“Besides the work we have done and will continue to do over this three-year period, we regard this project for what it truly is, or could be, a structuring project with a multiplier potential,” said Célia Azevedo, who spoke at the closing session of the "FORWARD 2020: + Training, + Participation."
For the Regional Director, “it is necessary to think of this project in two components, the internal regional component and its external component."
“In terms of its internal component, we have a project in the Azores that takes as its starting point the establishment of links between the Government, through the Regional Fund for Science and Technology, the University, a centre of knowledge and excellence, and the Chamber of Commerce, including entrepreneurs and companies, the beneficiaries and promoters of research and innovation,” said Célia Azevedo.
“The vision that led us to promote this joint work, based on the diagnosis conducted throughout this project, will certainly enable Azores to develop other projects, attract other investments and find other partners. Hence, the Azores will continue a strategy focused on knowledge and consolidate their presence in international projects that generate important gains to the Region and that are based on the excellence of the archipelago," stressed the government official.
In terms of its external component, the Regional Director for European Affairs added that “this project has the merit of being developed among peers” by bringing together the nine Outermost Regions of the European Union and integrating 24 partners representing the different innovation and research ecosystems of these regions.
“The status of the Outermost Regions, as determined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, strongly advocates for joint work between these Regions, which share specific characteristics resulting from their structural social and economic situation. Hence, this project makes this joint work more real and even more comprehensive,” Célia Azevedo said, stressing that, through it, there is “a new dynamic based on enhancing mutual knowledge between the Outermost Regions."
In her speech, the Regional Director also stressed that “the Forward project poses challenges and, besides the contribution that each Outermost Region will provide to this project, it requires a spirit of mutual help between Outermost Regions.” As she emphasised, " "only when the nine Outermost Regions are, in fact, an integral part of the European research area, will the Forward project truly fulfil its goal."
“When we manage to change the diagnosis that served as a starting point for this project, when we say that the Outermost Regions can and know how to participate in EU research programmes and when the excellence of research in the Outermost Regions is recognised internally and externally, we will all have truly fulfilled our goals," stressed Célia Azevedo.