The seminar focused on the research for excellence in the European Parliament; the speakers all came from the IMM, one of the most prestigious research centres in Portugal, which is based in Lisbon and attached to the Medical Faculty of the University of Lisbon.
During her intervention, Ms Carvalho dealed with three key aspects: the development of the future European programmes on research and innovation; the question of the budget provisions and the share of the budget that is devoted to research and innovation in Europe; and finally, the need for simplification in the domain.
For Ms Carvalho, "this is a particularly crucial moment for us all as the Parliament, the Council and the Commission are already working on the next Framework Programme of Research and Innovation and on the future EU budget, post- 2013", and added that "it is of paramount importance, at this juncture, that all of us pull in the same direction in order to ensure that we obtain the best possible design, structure and funding for the future programmes".
Among the participants were J. Lobo Antunes, President of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM); M. Carmo Fonseca - Director of the IMM; M. Pinto Gago, Head of Legal, Human resources, and Financial affairs, IMM; M. Trindade - Pre-award project management coordinator, IMM; M. Mota - Head of the Malaria unit, IMM; B. Silva Santos - Head the Molecular Immunology unit of IMM. The speakers gave their perspective on the future of biomedical research in Europe and discussed something of the barriers they have experienced in conducting their research but will also discuss how Europe can further excellence in the domain and about the way in which Portuguese research can best contribute at a European level.