The Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT) allocated a total of 350 million patacas to 639 projects last year, the FDCT reported in their annual review.
According to the Fund, in the course of last year and following government policies and guidelines, most of the funded projects were for applied science and research to convert research results into practical solutions that can immediately be put to use by the industry and have an immediate societal application.
This idea derives from the policies announced by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng aiming to encourage what he calls “industry-university-research cooperation,” putting academic resources and findings at the service of industries’ research and development (R&D).
According to the FDCT annual fund allocation report, applied research registered an increase in weight, focusing mainly on the areas of health, information technology, engineering, and materials, with the percentage of projects aimed at application reaching 88.3% of the total financial support allocated.
Priority was given to a series of R&D projects with potential for transformation/application, with an estimated investment of around 50 million patacas.
This group included projects to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, with, FDCT said, “some of [the projects] … already being applied, including an intelligent robot for fighting the [pandemic], digital microfluidic chip for rapid detection of coronavirus, Covid-19 diagnosis system based on artificial intelligence and a Covid-19 nucleic acid test kit.”
Other subsidized projects included the self-service currency exchange machine, Chinese-Portuguese automatic translation system, cross-border e-commerce platform, nanofoam expanded clay lightweight concrete, a new technology applied in traditional Chinese, and enhanced immunotherapy with synergistic PD-1, among others.
According to the Fund officials, some of these projects, namely those regarding Chinese medicine research, also gathered fund partnerships from several companies with a total investment of RMB8.88 million.
For this year (2022), the FDCT will continue to support and give priority to the projects focused on the link between the universities and the industries aiming at the practical application of the research and development projects.
Following this idea, the FDCT will establish two or three new scientific research platforms, promoting interdisciplinary development and supporting R&D in collaboration with companies, and will also increase the support for results on technological transformation.
The organization of scientific research results roadshows to take the finding of research to meet the industries will also continue on the annual plan, such as seminars and training courses.
Another focus will be the development of the Macau Science and Technology Awards with a special focus on issuing recommendations and nominations to the best local projects to be part of the large pool of China’s Science and Technology Awards in the Mainland.
