Azores are privileged place for USA to join Air Center, says Regional Director for Science and Technology
The Regional Director for Science and Technology stated in Washington that the Azores, due to their history, are a "privileged place" for the United States of American to join the AIR Center - Atlantic International Research Center.
In this regard, Bruno Pacheco pointed out Azorean emigration, the whaling activity in New Bedford and the submarine cables "tied" in Horta, also recalling that the first American consulate in Europe was installed on the island of Faial.
"This is why we regard the AIR Center as an important platform for building bridges with this side of the Atlantic, especially in terms of scientific development," said Bruno Pacheco.
The Regional Director spoke at the symposium "Scientific diplomacy to foster Atlantic Interactions: Establishing the Atlantic International Research Centre - AIR Center." The event took place at the Portuguese Embassy and was organised by the associations of this future research centre.
Bruno Pacheco stated that presenting in Washington the Region's "motivations" regarding the AIR Center "is one of the best ways to restate the commitment of the Azores and to open horizons to the Azorean society."
"We have the ambition to be connected to the world and, considering our unique identity and characteristics, we believe that we can make an important contribution to the world," added the government official.
Despite the small size of the archipelago in terms of "square kilometres of land", the Azores assume a great responsibility in the "maritime tailoring of Portugal," said the Regional Secretary. In this regard, he emphasised that this "maritime tailoring is one of the factors that allows Region to become part of the AIR Center."
When the Portuguese government launched the proposal for the creation of the AIR Center in 2016, Bruno Pacheco recalled that the "Regional Government immediately joined the initiative." As he mentioned, "the Atlantic and its interactions, especially with the United States, have become over time a commitment of the Region."
The Regional Director also defended that the AIR Center will have a north-south interaction. This will "create a type of dialogue and cooperation that will promote knowledge capable of facing several problems of this century, such as case of climate change affecting coastal communities."
In his speech, the government official emphasised "the relation between the Azores and the sea for being an island territory, pointing out that the "marine scientific knowledge produced in regional research centres allows Azorean scientific teams to join international consortia."
As for space-related activities, one of the study areas of AIR Center, Bruno Pacheco stressed "the potential of the Azores to host projects focused on the new space industry."
Matters such as marine resources and biodiversity, monitoring of oceans and coastal areas and marine ecosystems were under discussion at this symposium, which was attended by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor.
The integration of systems in the deep ocean, namely the development, integration and use of sensors, devices and systems, the mitigation and adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction, regional planning, sustainable energy systems, data science and artificial intelligence were other topics addressed at the event.