The Regional Secretary for Science, Technology and Infrastructures urged the regional scientific community "to support companies with few qualifications to believe that one day knowledge transfer will bear fruit for the real economy."

According to José Contente, this is the path the Regional Government should follow, believing that the knowledge economy is the third pillar that will ensure the sustainability of the regional economy; in this context, researchers may actively participate in regional development.

The government official spoke at the presentation ceremony of the Journal of Azorean Studies - Celebrating Darwin, held on Sunday night, and said that "there is no other way. In the area of science and technology, our goal is to invest more and better so that the knowledge economy may become a reality that bears fruit at the level of knowledge transparency and research in business context."

Nonetheless, the Regional Secretary recognises that the challenges in the knowledge economy are still high as there are still unexploited natural and genetic resources; "we have a long path to follow before the wealth brought by these resources may benefit our society in the future."

The supplement of the Journal of Azorean Studies - issue seven, published by the Afonso Chaves Society (SAC), the managing entity of Expolab - Lagoa Science Centre, honours Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory, and contains the minutes of the symposium held in Region on the occasion of Darwin's 200th anniversary.

José Contente praised the work developed by SAC and conveyed his satisfaction with the launching of the book to disseminate scientific culture, a publication supported by the Regional Secretariat for Science, Technology and Infrastructures.
 
"This type of initiatives is part of our policy to support the dissemination of scientific culture and scientific research." In the past six years, the Government has invested 50 million Euros in the University of the Azores in the area of science, technology and research. It "is a good investment, but it would be good to have more money to invest in knowledge," stressed the Regional Secretary.