The Government of the Azores, through the Regional Fund for Science and Technology, will hold a workshop designated as “FORWARD Plan: promoting participation in European funding programmes in the Innovation and Research ecosystem” at the Civil Engineering Regional Laboratory in Ponta Delgada on Monday, June 24.

This meeting is organised under the FORWARD project and falls within the mapping phase of the Innovation and Research (I&R) ecosystem of each EU Outermost Region. It is primarily aimed at collecting contributions from the key players of the Azorean I&R ecosystem.

The workshop intends to assess the current situation as well as to identify a series of common actions with the aim of defining a joint strategy for the ORs, developing thematic action plans, building bridges between research and policy, and establishing network activities, among other goals.

Funded by Horizon 2020 under the societal challenge “Science with and for Society,” the FORWARD project – Promoting Research of Excellence in EU Outermost Regions – has a three-year implementation period and involves the nine Outermost Regions of the European Union. It has an overall budget of four million Euros.

As for the Azores, this project is implemented by the Regional Fund for Science and Technology in conjunction with the University of the Azores and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Azores.