The State visit to Portugal by Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri is an opportunity to turn the spotlight on the ongoing research cooperation between the two countries. Here is a brief view on some of the main activities currently under way, in which the University of Luxembourg is involved.

• There are 26 ongoing collaborative research projects that are funded by the EU and that involve the University of Luxembourg and at least one institution from Portugal (including the projects that are completed and closed in the meantime, the count reaches 50). The EU’s financial contribution to these projects is close to 33 million euros.
• In addition to the EU-funded projects, Luxembourg’s National Research Fund (FNR) is financing two projects involving the University of Luxembourg as well as partner institutions from Portugal. The funding represents close to one million euros.

Two highlights among the collaborative projects:

The European Master for High Performance computing

By bringing together major players in HPC education in Europe, EUMaster4HPC aims to offer the most talented students a coordinated pan-European curriculum at the frontier of digital technology in areas such as the design, deployment, operation, and/or the use of current and future generation HPC and HPC-related technologies in Europe.

EUMaster4HPC is coordinated by the University of Luxembourg and emphasises collaboration across Europe with innovative teaching and strong connections with the industry and leading experts in HPC education. The focus on academic excellence in collaboration with a broad community of European stakeholders aims to provide young talents with the competences and knowledge to address the challenges of the European HPC ecosystem in the transition towards a “Digital Europe”.

The creation of a European network of HPC specialists aims to strengthen mobility and mutual support between students, teachers and industrial experts. A focus on mobility of students and teachers enables students to rapidly gain experience through internships and exposure to European supercomputing centres.

The University of Coimbra is the Portuguese partner in this multi-country project that is set to receive funding of 7 million euros from the EU.

Citizen-centred EU-EHR exchange for personalised health

It is important for all EU citizens to be able to access their own health data easily and securely within each EU Member State. With this in mind, the EU-funded Smart4Health project aims to develop a prototype application that allows users to collect, manage, share and donate their health-related data throughout the EU. Bringing together 18 partners from medical, social and technical sciences and industry, the project paves the way for the full deployment of citizen-centred solutions and services in a digital single market for well-being and healthcare. The platform under development will ultimately advance citizen health and digital innovation by providing easy-to-use and constantly accessible health data. It will facilitate feedback and interaction between patients and healthcare providers and support disease prevention and citizen empowerment.

The project is coordinated by Uninova – Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias – Associaçao with a total EU funding of the research consortium of 21.8 million euros.

More information about Citizen-centred EU-EHR exchange for personalised health

Foto: © SIP / Jean-Christophe Verhaegen

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