MIT Portugal Program

The MIT Portugal Program is an international collaboration among MIT and government, academia, and industry in Portugal to develop the country’s education and research programs in engineering systems. This high-level partnership represents a strategic commitment by the Portuguese government to science, technology, and higher education. It leverages MIT’s expertise in these areas and invests in human capital and institution-building to strengthen Portugal’s engineering systems knowledge and capabilities.

The program, launched in October 2006, is supported by a national initiative involving seven Portuguese universities and 14 research centers that has targeted four focus areas that are key for economic development and societal impact that have become the focus of educational and research activities. They are:

A goal of the MIT Portugal Program is to educate a new generation of leaders in aspects of the emerging field of engineering systems. Priority has been given to developing new world-class education programs in Portuguese universities for top engineering students from Portugal and around the world. Three types of educational programs have been developed: PhD, professional certificate/ master's, and short courses geared toward professionals in these four focus areas that all have a foundation in engineering systems. In addition to these four focus areas, a separate program includes projects to address fundamental research in engineering systems as well as flagship projects that integrate research across several of the focus areas.

Another main objective of the MIT Portugal Program is to encourage faculty in Portuguese institutions to invigorate research and development in the industrial sector. Research projects address issues and priorities important to Portugal, in the four focus areas as well as other areas including methodologies such as network analysis and logistics, and engineering systems properties and principles, such as sustainability and flexibility in system design. MIT Portugal Program research will intersect directly with its educational components and create lasting connections between academia and industry in Portugal.