Chinese traditional medicine will integrate scientific cooperation
Traditional Chinese medicine is one of the themes chosen to integrate scientific cooperation projects between Portugal and Macau, which are expected to start in the first half of the year, was announced today.
The agreement between the Macao Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT) and the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT), signed in late 2017, was waiting for a budget and selection of themes to move forward.
“We have set out three financing projects within three years,” said Cheang Kun Wai, a member of the FDCT board of directors, at a press conference in Macau today.
In addition to traditional Chinese medicine, scientific cooperation between Portuguese and Macanese institutions will cover “information technology and maritime issues,” he said. For each project, “Macau will subsidize with one million patacas [about 100 thousand euros] and Portugal with 100 thousand euros”.
“At the end of last year we received an optimized version [of the project] from the [FCT] Foundation and we received the final version last month,” he said, before predicting the launch in the first half of the year.
At the same press conference, the FDCT made a balance sheet for 2018, when it approved 510 of 639 applications, worth some 261 million patacas (28.4 million euros).
“The criteria are now more stringent,” said FDCT president Ma Chi Ngai, noting that the project approval rate was lower than last year.
Already in the scope of financial support for the construction of an intelligent city, 13 applications were approved, worth 4.1 million patacas (about 451 thousand euros).
Following the press conference, a cooperation agreement was signed between the FDCT, the WeBank and the Macao Productivity and Technology Transfer Center.
“The Fund hopes that this cooperation project will encourage the participation of local industry and promote innovative technologies in order to increase Macao’s business productivity and market competitiveness,” said Ma Chi Ngai.
