Luís Viseu Melo, professor at IST – Department of Physics, was elected vice-chair of the OECD Working Party on Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Converging Technologies. After a year working as national Delegate, the Técnico professor now embraces the challenge of being part of a restricted group of people who make the major strategic decisions. “A vice-chair has several responsibilities, some may be more formal than others”, highlights professor Luís Viseu Melo, who is visibly happy with his election. “Although decisions are taken in plenary sessions, there is a specific work that is carried out by a restricted group of people”.
“I spent four years working at FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) as president’s adviser for nanotechnology, so I started to get involved a little bit in science policies. It’s something that motivates me a lot”. “On the other hand, it’s a privilege to work with extremely competent colleagues”, says professor Luís Viseu Melo.
The OECD Working Party on Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Converging Technologies works under the aegis of the Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP), created in 2014, and aims to encourage co-operation among member countries in the field of science, technology and innovation policy. “We produce good practice guidance and recommendations in these fields so that member countries can face the challenges of new technologies”.
“We are now living in a fast paced technological world. Technologies reach the market at a much faster pace than ever before”, says the Técnico professor, who also highlights that we need to bring science closer to society: “Society should be allowed to participate in scientific agendas, so we need to have a more scientifically literate society”, he adds.
According to professor Luís Viseu Melo, “our country is very active in what concerns nanotechnology and biotechnology. At this moment Portugal is in a good positions in what concerns converging technologies research, namely neurotechnology, which is something that will become more common in the coming years. Although it may bring many benefits it has great risks associated”, he clarifies. According to professor Luís Viseu Melo, the research work carried out at Técnico on nanotechnology and biotechnology is very good: “From a scientific point of view, Técnico is one of today’s top school”.
