The Government of the Azores is committed to support scientific research in the Region, particularly the work carried out by scientists that privileges a practical application to benefit the economic and social development of the Azores.
The idea was reiterated in Angra Heroism on Wednesday by the Regional Secretary for Science, Technology and Infrastructures, who spoke at the closing session of the GIS Day, a worldwide event that promotes the importance of geographic information systems in everyday life.
In this context, José Contente mentioned the geographic information systems, in which the government presided by Carlos César has invested over one million Euros since 2007, with important practical results.
The Regional Secretary said that the Azores is already provided with “a very advanced digital cartography” that has been requested by the programmes Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth.
Likewise, the Region meets the EU directive on the subject, providing digital cartography companies and other institutions, and even “replacing us in some entities, such as municipalities (http://ideia.azores.gov.pt/sigenda) with a recent program called SIGENDA” that allows the access to the addresses of several streets on several islands, which is expected to cover the entire archipelago “soon.”
The Ideia.Azores platform, created by the Azorean Government has much more potentialities, stressed José Contente, “at the level of civil protection, spatial planning or environmental research.” He explained that several contents are being added to this platform so that “authors, companies and researchers may access to more geo-referenced information.”
The Regional Secretary also said that the GPS network installed in the Azores, which “quite complete,” allows the access to such information from any computer. This network, he revealed, “is prepared for future entry into operation of the European project Galileo.”
Moreover, José Contente stressed another idea: “knowledge is nowadays the basis of competitiveness as well as of companies,” adding that “without knowledge, they will not innovate and, therefore, cannot reach a transnational level.
Hence, the Regional Secretary stressed, “it is up to research the concerning of turning that knowledge into something useful for companies” because, he added, “we must create within our regional economy, in addition to the traditional sectors, something that brings added value to the Azores in this knowledge economy.”