On November 5, the INESC headquarters were busy with anticipation for an important visit. The Secretary for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil, Henrique Miguel, accompanied by diplomat Diego Araújo Campos from the Brazilian Embassy in Lisbon, arrived in Alves Redol premises to learn more about both INESC-ID and INESC-MN’s facilities.

The purpose of this visit was to showcase development and research activities and to explore opportunities for enhanced cooperation between the two countries, mainly in microchips, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity, potentially paving the way for new partnerships.

The visit’s programme started with institutional presentations by Miguel Pupo Correia, researcher and President of the Executive Committee of INESC-ID and Susana Freitas, Executive Director of INESC-MN. Jorge Fernandes, INESC-ID researcher in Nano-Electronic Circuits and Systems gave an overview of the initiative POEMS – The Portuguese Competence Centre in Semiconductors, which aligns with the Brazilian Government’s efforts in the ChipTech programme. Guilherme Paim, INESC-ID researcher in High Performance Computing Architectures and Systems, and the visit’s organiser, presented the results achieved by INESC-ID visiting students at the CI Inovador Polo UFRGS (INOVA-ME), coordinated by Fernanda Lima Kastensmidt and organised by SOFTEX, with the support of Brazilian microelectronics company, Chipus Microelectronics.

Efforts to strengthen scientific and technological cooperation between Portugal and Brazil have recently led to the signing of a MoU during the XIV Cimeira and to the Seminar of the Luso-Brazilian Agenda of AI. The latter was attended by Bernardo Correia, Secretary of State for Digitalization of Portugal of the Portuguese Republic – XXV Government, and Henrique Miguel, Secretary of Science and Technology for Digital Transformation of Brazil, among several other authorities from both countries.