Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education and the Azores Vice-President visit the AIR Centre

On July 5th, 2022 the AIR Centre received the visit of the Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato and the Vice-President of the Azores Government, Artur Lima. The agenda included presenting the activities of the AIR Centre and a visit to the newly installed Direct Receiving Station (DRS) & Data Centre. Minister Elvira Fortunato and Vice-President Artur Lima were welcomed by Emir Sirage and Pedro Freire da Silva, AIR Centre’s CEO and CTO, respectively, and Duarte Pimentel, TERINOV’s Executive Director. The visit begun with a tour at TERINOV and followed by the presentation of the AIR Centre activities, its missions associated to several of the ongoing projects as well as the Earth Observation Laboratory. Natalia Ospina-Alvarez, Blue Economy manager, gave a short presentation on Sustainable Aquaculture; Joana Soares, Senior Project Officer and MBON Executive Secretariat, presented the activities of the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network – GEO BON) including the program Marine Life 2030; and João Pinelo, Head of Data Science, presented pilot projects with scientific and technological impacts in the Azores, giving special focus to two ongoing projects, which directly serve two of the main economic pillars of the Azores: dairy production and fishing. He also presented the Direct Receiving Station (DRS) and the AIR Data Centre. The DRS is a result of an agreement between the AIR Centre, the regional government, and TERINOV, and capitalizes on the geolocation of the Azores for the reception and processing of satellite imagery. The AIR Centre highlighted the large and consolidated distributed network within the Atlantic region and the projects’ impact at a regional, national and international level. The AIR Centre highlighted the large and consolidated distributed network within the Atlantic region and the projects’ impact at a regional, national and international level. At a regional level, more than a dozen projects are ongoing involving regional partners in the Azores in topics such as agriculture, ocean and maritime port pollution, fisheries, energy, natural hazards, among others. Indeed, the Azores has been the centre for multiple activities, including technical training and scientific events organized by the AIR Centre which brough top international experts and policy makers in various fields to exchange ideas, knowledge and promote collaborations with national and regional experts. At national and international level, a significant number of projects have been put in place in areas such as aquaculture, climate change, space, marine litter and biodiversity. Since its inception in 2018, the AIR Centre has continuously been working towards the creation of jobs, knowledge and economic growth, both at regional, national and international levels, contributing to a more sustainable future.