NOVA University Lisbon and the Municipality of Oeiras establish a partnership for the installation of innovative projects in the municipality, i.e. campuses and related projects.
The NOVA University Lisbon and the Municipality of Oeiras signed, this Wednesday 26th, a Memorandum of Understanding to install in the municipality part of the strategic projects for NOVA and with a strong impact on the science and innovation ecosystem of the NOVA region and the country: Lisbon region and the government itself.
With this partnership, the NIMSB – Nova Institute for Medical Systems Biology and Colab Innov Gastronomy will be installed in Oeiras, as well as NOVA IMS – Information Management School. A partnership that strengthens the already long institutional relationship between NOVA and the municipality of Oeiras, with a focus on ITQB NOVA – Institute of Chemical and Biological Technology António Xavier, installed in the municipality for over 30 years.
“It’s an agreement that we are quite happy about,” began Pedro Patacho, Oeiras Municipal councillor for Education, Science and Innovation, recalling that this was the first municipality to define a strategy to support science and technology at the local level. “Now the future is something we will build together”.
The first vision of this future was given by Miguel de Castro Neto, director of NOVA Information and Management School (NOVA IMS), who said that the new campus will be “global, intelligent, sustainable and social”, bringing more knowledge and more innovation to Oeiras, stressing that the aim is, of course, to place the school at the forefront, both nationally and internationally. “This is our mission, not only for students and professors but for the entire community,” he concluded, recalling that it could not be more in line with the University’s motto of being global and civic.
Isabel Rocha, NOVA’s vice-rector in charge of research and innovation, did the honours a little later by presenting the NIMSB – NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology project, which will also be located in the municipality of Oeiras. “With this project, we want to implement our vision for the life sciences: to contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying diseases and to develop new tools and therapeutic solutions, as well as to lead the transfer in the field of precision medicine, which makes it possible to target treatments to groups of people”, highlighting that in total, it meets five of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Quality Health (3), Quality Education (4), Gender Equality (5), Decent Work and Economic Growth (8), and Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (9).
The idea of this university network, which will challenge the city network, was also the motto of the speech given by the Rector of the University, João Sàágua: “Since we became a foundation, we have been in a process of opening up to society, leaving the ivory tower of academics and establishing collaborative agendas. Now we want to be champions who work together”, in the sense that “together we will build another NOVA University in the City of Knowledge, Innovation and Education in Oeiras, for the good of the country”.
Isaltino Morais, President of Oeiras City Council, concluded by welcoming above all the creation of what will be “the largest life sciences campus in the country and one of the largest in Europe”, stressing that this agreement is also a recognition of the importance of sustainable and inclusive solutions. “Will we have a Nobel Prize winner born here in the community in the future? Well, let’s at least work towards it!”
The photos below tell the rest.