Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical

Foundation

Public funding for research on tropical areas began with the Cartography Commission, established by the Crown in 1883. The institution went through several name changes, the last one in 1982.

Objectives

IICT is a State Laboratory in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. It carries out research, technical and co-operation activities with tropical countries and possesses a vast historical, cultural and scientific heritage. The “Portuguese initiative” at the 2003 Ministerial of Science and Technology of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil committed to making this heritage accessible. A project with Ministry of Culture was announced at 2004 Ministerial in Maputo.

Governance

Bylaws were approved in 1983 and 2003. The latter introduced a steering committee including representatives of the Ministries of Economy and Foreign Affairs, business associations, foundations and international organisations, chaired by a representative of the supervising Minister and a monitoring unit with representatives of international organisations.
Researchers gather in Scientific Council and elect President and Vice President plus four members of a board, where the two department heads sit ex officio.

Management

The President and Vice President of IICT are appointed by Minister of Science. Two department heads and the director of support services are responsible for the three core competencies described below and meet regularly as a directorate, sometimes together with the board of the Scientific Council mentioned above.

Staff

237 people on the wage bill, of which 80 researchers. Not all of the 129 involved in the three core competencies are in wage bill, thanks to fellowships from the Foundation for Science and Technology.

Outputs

Programme of work, list of publications and self evaluation reports (last in English dated January 2005) available at www.iict.pt. Museum of Ethnology shows part of heritage, rest being preserved in CPLP project involving three services open to the public: Overseas Historical Archive, Documentation and Information Centre and Tropical Agricultural Garden-Museum. Coffee rust research centre and global development program are partly funded by business associations.

List of three core competencies and eight enabling technologies

1. Sustainable Development and Food Security

a) Spectroradiometry, airborne and satellite remote sensing, geographical information systems and GPS, GNSS and gravimetry addressing regional and global development schemes.
b) Geological, pedological, mineralogical, biological analysis and mapping.
c) Food security strategies and storage management, farming systems and crop protection, including international research co-operation on coffee diseases control and regional development schemes; biotechnology, animal and vegetal tissue cryopreservation and molecular biology techniques; livestock and animal health.
d) Forest assessment, tree and wood identification and quality analysis, chemo metrics and NIR spectrometry.
e) Interactive soil, mineral, botanical and zoological databases.

2. Memories and Identities

f) Utilisation of new information technologies for recording, treatment and diffusion of scientific heritage and patrimonial data aiming at the preservation and increasing the accessibility of the historical, cultural and scientific heritage of IICT; use of socio-anthropological techniques for field work in tropical areas.
g) Capacity to create, integrate and develop networks of researchers and institutions concerned with similar research topics and geographical areas. This includes initiatives such as the International Meeting on African History, similar ones in socio-anthropological fields and the participation in development schemes involving public-private partnerships, conducted so far by external consultants.

3. Access to and preservation of heritage: Shares e) and f) enabling technologies

h) Implementing preservation techniques and storage areas for the protection of IICT heritage.