The Government announced a new financing line of 15 million euros aimed at supporting scientific discoveries and advanced engineeringcalled “‘Deep Tech’ Ecosystem”.
The Minister of Economy, Manuel Castro Almeida, stated that “these 15 million are also the initial allocation, but not the final allocation”.
20 vouchers worth 750 thousand euros will be made available for projects in areas such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics and quantum computingwith the aim of “reinforcing the Government’s focus on sectors with capacity to transform the economy”.
This line is part of the “Financial Instrument for Innovation and Competitiveness”, which totals 315 million euros and is managed by Banco Português de Fomento.
The fund was created using surplus funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), which previously prioritized the public sector. The value of 315 million can be increased with future adjustments to the PRR.
Recently, three competitions were launched, providing 300 million euros for the lines “Reindustrialize” (150 million euros), “Artificial Intelligence in SMEs” (100 million euros) and “Defense and Security Economy” (50 million euros).