In a statement, the Fraunhofer said that the agreement “will not only renew the research programme applied in Portugal, but will also serve as a base for the creation of new poles dedicated to research in the area of precision agriculture in the universities of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro and of Évora”.
In 2007, the German institute and the FCT signed an initial accord that led to the creation of Fraunhofer Portugal and the constitution of its first R&D centre in Europe outside Germany, the Fraunhofer Portugal Research Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions.
The accord to be signed this week aims at expanding the presence in Portugal of what claims to be “Europe’s leading applied research organisation”, with “direct utility for private and public enterprises and for society as a whole”.