Science and technology in Portugal is mainly conducted within a network ofresearch and development (R&D) units belonging topublic universities and state-managed autonomous research institutions. There are also non-state-run research institutions and some private R&D projects developed by companies.
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Thefirst university of Portugal was founded in 1290 as aStudium Generale inLisbon. It was focused onthe arts andhumanities, but also included amedical school since its foundation.
During the 16th century, in theAge of Discovery, a moremathematical educational approach flourished in this university with the creation of specialized courses and classes in the field. This included the appointment ofPedro Nunes as mathematics teacher, in 1537, when the Portuguese university located in Lisbon was relocated back to Coimbra, and Nunes moved to the re-foundedUniversity of Coimbra to teach mathematics, a post he held until 1562. This was a new post in the University of Coimbra and it was established to provide instruction in the technical requirements for navigation: clearly a topic of great importance inPortugal at this period, when control of sea trade was the primary source of Portuguese wealth. Mathematics became an independent post in 1544.[1] In the 17th century, military engineering teaching was also established in theFortification, Artillery and Drawing Royal Academy of Lisbon.
By the 18th century, under theenlightened political leadership of theMarquis of Pombal, the University of Coimbra was modernized with the appointment of new professors, both Portuguese and foreigners, and the establishment of several facilities directed towards the teaching of thenatural sciences. Also in the 18th century, one of the oldest learned societies of Portugal, theLisbon Academy of Sciences, was founded in 1779.
Historically, within the scope of the now defunctPortuguese Empire, the Portuguese founded in 1792 the oldest engineering school ofLatin America (theReal Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho), as well as one of the oldest medical colleges ofAsia (theEscola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa) in 1842.
In 1911, the oldest non-military Portuguese university degree-conferring institution of engineering was founded - it was theInstituto Superior Técnico, in Lisbon, as well as new Science Faculties in the newly foundedUniversity of Lisbon andPorto.
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In 1949, the Portuguese neurologistAntónio Egas Moniz, an early developer of thecerebral angiography, was awarded theNobel Prize in Medicine.
TheInstituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) an international centre for biomedical research and graduate education, located inOeiras,Portugal, was founded by theCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) in 1961. Its campus includes other research institutes inbiology,biotechnology andchemistry, with complementary research interests and facilities: protein structure and design, synthesis and theory of chemicals with biological interest, molecular microbiology, plant biotechnology, biotechnology, downstream processing, etc. The excellence of the IGC was attested by rankings published in 2010 and 2011, when the IGC was ranked as one of the Top Ten best Places forpost-docs, byThe Scientist - Faculty of 1000.
TheChampalimaud Foundation, based in Lisbon, Portugal, was created at the bequest of the late Portuguese industrialist and entrepreneur,António de Sommer Champalimaud. At the end of 2004 it was officially incorporated as the Anna de Sommer Champalimaud and Dr. Carlos Montez Champalimaud Foundation, in honour of the benefactor's parents. The Champalimaud Foundation's focus is on the fields ofneuroscience andoncology. On October 5, 2010 the Foundation inaugurated a clinical and research centre in Lisbon - the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown.
In November 19, 2005, theInternational Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory to be built inBraga, was announced by the head of Government of Spain and the Prime Minister of Portugal at the end of the XXI Portugal-Spain Summit that took place in Évora.
InPortugal, a network of research and development units belonging topublic universities and state-managed autonomous research institutions like theINETI - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação, the ITN - Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear, theINRB - Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos, theINSA - Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge, theIPO - Instituto Português de Oncologia, theLNEC - Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil and theLIP - Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas, makes the core of Portugal's science and technology research output. The funding of this research system is mainly conducted under the authority of theMinistry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, namely through its foundation for science and technology, the FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia.
The largest R&D units of the public universities (over 380 units in total which are distributed across 14 public universities) by number of peer-reviewed publications and research grants, include theIPATIMUP, theInstituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular and theAbel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute, all of them at theUniversity of Porto; theInstituto de Medicina Molecular at theUniversity of Lisbon; or theCentre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology at theUniversity of Coimbra, among others. Private universities have a lower research output, however, there are a number of research units accredited by the Ministry and the FCT, these include theFacial Emotion Expression Lab at theUniversity Fernando Pessoa. Although smaller and generally with less resources devoted to investigation than the universities, since after theBologna Process (2006/2007) which allowed the polytechnical institutions to awardmasters' degrees and required the admission of doctorate-level staff, an increasingly large number of Portuguesepolytechnical institutions have also established and expanded their own research facilities. However, polytechnic's limited research activities are very small when compared to the state-run universities due to both a lack of research budget and doctorate-level teaching staff and investigators.[2]
Several other scientific fields are covered by specialized research organizations which are noted for their role as technologybusiness incubators, like theInternational Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, theInstituto Pedro Nunes andTaguspark, ascience park. The largest non-state-run research institutions inPortugal, include theInstituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and theChampalimaud Foundation which recognises outstanding contributions to research in vision and associated areas through a major annual award.
The Champalimaud Foundation's research center at the mouth of theRiver Tagus inLisbon, opened in 2010 with diagnostic and treatment units for cancer patients on the lower floors and research labs above.[3] TheIbercivis, adistributed computing platform, based onBOINC, that allows all ordinary citizens to participate on scientific research in a direct way and in real time as volunteer donors of unusedcomputer cycles is a joint scientific collaboration of thePortuguese andSpanish governments. TheBial Foundation (Fundação Bial), named after a Portuguese pharmaceutical company, awards one of Portugal's most noted prizes for scientific research in the area of health. A number of both national and multinational high-tech and industrial companies present in Portugal, are also responsible for research and development projects in different fields. TheAcademia das Ciências de Lisboa (Academy of Sciences of Lisbon), created in 1779, is one of the oldestlearned societies in Portugal.
The sole Portuguese science-related Laureate, having been awarded theNobel Prize in Medicine in 1949, wasEgas Moniz.
In 2001 Portugal was ranked 28th among countries that contributed to the top 1% of the world's highly cited publications. Accounting for 0.25% of these publications, Portugal ranked above South Africa (0.21%) and Iran (0.04%), but below Spain (2.08%), Ireland (0.36%), and Greece (0.3%).[4] Portugal was ranked 31st in theGlobal Innovation Index in 2025.[5][6]
According to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2010, Portugal is one of the moderate innovators with a below average performance. Relative strengths are in open, excellent and attractive research systems, finance and support and innovators. Relative weaknesses are in firm investments, intellectual assets and outputs. Positive growth is observed for most indicators, and in particular for businessR&D expenditure, PCT patent applications in societal challenges and community designs. A substantial decline can be observed for venture capital and non-R&D innovation expenditure over the 5-year reference period, although venture capital has almost doubled in 2009 with respect to 2008. Growth performance in open, excellent and attractive research systems, linkages & entrepreneurship and intellectual assets is above average. In the other dimensions it is below average.[7]
The European Innovation Scoreboard 2011, placed Portugal-based innovation in the 15th position, with an impressive increase in innovation expenditure and output.[8]
Research centers belonging tohigher learning institutions accredited byFCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, as of 2004:[9]
| Type of institution | Number of research centers | Number of institutions |
|---|---|---|
| Public universities | 384 | 14 |
| Public polytechnics | 8 | 15 |
| Catholic University | 14 | 1 |
| Private universities | 7 | N/A |
| Other private institutions | 20 | N/A |
| Total | 433 | N/A |
WithinEurope and theEuropean Union (EU), Portugal has full membership into several pan-European scientific organizations like theEuropean Space Agency (ESA), theEuropean Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN),ITER, and theEuropean Southern Observatory (ESO). Portuguese scientists and technicians work in all of those organizations. In the period 2005-2007, Portugal was the EU member state with the highest growth rate inresearch and development (R&D) investment as a percentage of theGDP - a 46% growth. Portugal's R&D investment equals 1.2% of PortugueseGDP. This was the 15th largest allocation of funds as a percentage of the GDP for R&D, among the 27 EU member states in 2007.[2]
Notable organizations focused on science-related exhibits and divulgation, include the state agencyCiência Viva, a programme of the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology to the promotion of a scientific and technological culture among the Portuguese population,[10] theScience Museum of the University of Coimbra, theMuseum of Natural History at the University of Lisbon, theVisionarium and theLisbon Oceanarium.
With the emergence and growth of severalscience parks throughout the world which helped create many thousands of scientific, technological and knowledge-based businesses, Portugal started to develop several[11] science parks across the country. These include theTaguspark (inOeiras), theCoimbra inovação Parque (inCoimbra), theBiocant park (inCantanhede), theTecmaia (inMaia), the Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia do Porto (inSanta Maria da Feira andGuimarães), theMadeira Tecnopolo[12] (inFunchal),Sines Tecnopolo[13] (inSines) andParkurbis[14] (inCovilhã). Companies locate in the Portuguese science parks to take advantage of a variety of services ranging from financial and legal advice through to marketing and technological support.
Some examples of notable Portuguese people who had made important contributions to science and technology, becoming in their time internationally known within their respective field, include: