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"Portugal’s aim is to take a strategic position in this field [artificial intelligence] and to do so, it has developed strategies and initiatives", claimed the Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, where the Moroccan-Portuguese Conference was held, focusing especially on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Elvira Fortunato added that "when it comes to artificial intelligence, we have invested in qualifying human resources, attracting foreign investment, and international expansion", and offered as examples PhD scholarships for AI research projects, tenders under Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe Programme, active participation in international fora on matters such as regulation, security, privacy, and ethics, and the approval of mobilising agendas under the National Recovery and Resilience Facility with a strong specific AI component - Responsible AI Centre (Unbzabel), Accelerat.IA (Defined.AI) and AI Fights Space Debris (Neuraspace).
The first Moroccan-Portuguese Conference on AI held following the 14th High-Level Meeting between the two countries in May enabled a boost in cooperation and dialogue in this field among experts, researchers, students, and sector professionals, and included a bilateral meeting between the Portuguese Minister and her Moroccan counterpart Abdellatif Miraoui.
This was also an opportunity for both Governments to drive the Memorandum of Understanding signed in May, which was aimed at encouraging the development of new collaboration in the field of digital skills, advanced computing science, digital innovation hubs and regulatory exploitation, and artificial intelligence. To this end, Portugal was represented by the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation, Mário Campolargo.
"We couldn’t be more aligned with the European and international trend, when the world is discussing the importance, the impact, the opportunities, and the challenges of artificial intelligence on the economic and social sectors", the member of Government charged with science added.
Elvira Fortunato said that the collaboration between Portugal and Morocco should be strengthened "to benefit our cooperation in the Mediterranean region through joint participation in research projects under the PRIMA initiative in the field of agriculture and water management, or the regular cooperation with the o INL on Nanoscience, or even the 5+5 Dialogue, where we have fostered technological enhancement and building regional smart specialisation strategies".
The Minister also offered as example the need to boost synergies in areas such as academic and scientific mobility, developing partnerships to offer North-African scientists access to Portuguese infrastructures, and new collaboration on digital skills, artificial intelligence, and advanced computer science.
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