There has been considerable debate regarding the announced merger of the Portuguese National Innovation Agency (ANI) and the National Science Foundation (FCT) into the new Research and Innovation Agency (AI2). This initiative, however, was not entirely unexpected, as it had already been hinted at in the current Government’s agenda, reflected in the adopted name for the Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation.

Moreover, there has long been broad agreement that action was needed to reduce the overlap between the various instruments promoted by ANI and FCT, such as Research and Development Units (UI&Ds), Associate Laboratories (LAs), Collaborative Laboratories (CoLabs), and Technology and Innovation Centers (CTIs). At the same time, there is widespread consensus that both scientific research and innovation are essential for the country’s development: knowledge creation and the ability to translate that knowledge into economic value are both necessary to move our industries up in the value chain.

That said, we must be careful not to confuse scientific research with innovation. Scientific research is primarily concerned with generating knowledge. It consumes both human and financial resources to create new models and explanations of the reality around us, and it disseminates this knowledge through conference presentations, journal articles, and books. Innovation, by contrast, applies that knowledge to create value—transforming discoveries into inventions with economic potential, which are then often protected by patents. This is why scientific research typically originates in public, academic-style institutions, while innovation is more commonly driven by the research divisions of private companies.

For this reason, I sincerely hope that the new AI2 does not make the mistake of evaluating research quality without recognizing this crucial distinction in objectives. Efforts labeled simultaneously as both scientific research and innovation risk being neither, at least not to the level of quality and excellence that we should all strive to achieve.
 

 

José Carlos Pedro
(IT President)