The Government of the Azores, through the Regional Fund for Science and Technology, is part of the consortium BiodivERsA3 - Consolidating the European Research Area on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a project funded by Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. It brings together a network of 31 public funding agencies from 18 European countries that allocate specific amounts for scientific research in the field of biodiversity.

 According to the Regional Director for Science and Technology, this consortium is "very important" to the Azores because it "allows the opening to other funds, thus being itself another funding tool for regional research."
 Nelson Simões highlighted the importance of the study of regional biodiversity not only in terms of research, in but also in terms of "the definition of guidelines for regional public policies, which will contribute to the protection and preservation of our biodiversity."

 The BiodivERsA3 network seeks to identify the best research practices as a basis for the implementation of the European Research Area, with the main goal of building a sustainable dynamic platform to identify the most strategic issues for biodiversity.
 In the context of this network, the Government will launch a call for the submission of application for scientific projects, with an overall budget of 30 million Euros.

 The Regional Fund for Science and Technology has recently participated in several meetings on BiodivERsA3 as well as in a workshop for the establishment of dissemination strategies of the call in each participating region and the promotion of partnerships between various research teams from countries that belong to the BiodivERsA3 network.

 In this context, the Regional Fund for Science and Technology organizes a clarification session on the BiodivERsA3 at Expolab in Lagoa on May 15 at 3 PM.
 This session is directed to all Azorean researchers who are interested in submitting project proposals.