Last Friday, 25th September, the Mayor of Oeiras, Isaltino Morais, and the president of Instituto Superior Técnico, professor Rogério Colaço, signed a memorandum of understanding that will result in the development of IST Taguspark Campus. A programme of activities that will take place in the campus will be elaborated for the period 2020-2025.
“Oeiras has entered a new development stage and has a new brand: Oeiras Valley”, said Isaltino Morais. The Mayor of Oeiras expressed his desire “the population of Oeiras should start thinking about Técnico as our University”.
According to Técnico president ”this is the restarting of relations with Oeiras ”. Professor Rogério Colaço stressed the importance of IST Taguspark campus, recalled the high number of students graduated at Taguspark over the last 25 years and the investment of €30 million in this campus.
The reinforcement of halls of residences, bike lanes and bike sharing systems, the investment in new cultural, sports and leisure facilities, and landscape requalification are included in this memorandum of understanding.
Técnico is committed to maintaining the current number of students and attracting new faculty, through the creation of new courses, new research projects and new development projects. Técnico will also develop the existing thematic laboratories and will launch two others that are in an embryonic phase: the Logistics Laboratory and the Social Innovation Laboratory.
“The creation of a programme of short and long term visits capable of attracting foreign researchers and faculty to carry out visits and take sabbaticals on campus” will be carried out by Técnico, “thus contributing to the enrichment and internationalisation of Técnico and Oeiras municipality”. “The development of proofs of concept that respond to the needs of Oeiras institutions might also be provided”.
Técnico’s experience in disseminating Science, Technology and Engineering to the youngest was also taken into account in this memorandum. Thus, some Técnico projects will be included in “Oeiras Educa” project, aimed at developing educational activities for young people.
