THE Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming how scientific research is conducted and how the knowledge produced reaches society., including classrooms. At FCCN, the digital services unit of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), This transformation is achieved through infrastructure and services. which create conditions to bring research, technological innovation and pedagogical practice closer together.
The starting point is the technological foundations that make it possible to develop and apply AI solutionsThrough the Science, Technology and Society Network (RCTS), which ensures advanced connectivity for the academic and scientific community, and the computing infrastructures and digital services it provides, the FCT's digital services unit, FCCN, It provides the necessary resources to train models, process large volumes of data, and test new scientific approaches.It is within this ecosystem that many projects gain scale and maturity.
Projects with direct application of AI
One of the most concrete examples is the platform. IAedu, the digital service that promotes a Equitable, safe, and efficient use of Artificial Intelligence in higher education and research.Through this platform, teachers and researchers can create personalized assistants, support the production and analysis of content, and explore new pedagogical methodologies. By facilitating access to advanced technologies, IAedu contributes to integrating research results into educational contexts, promoting experimentation and pedagogical innovation.
Another relevant project is the AIvLAB – Virtual Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence, which It provides advanced computing resources, including GPU access, for the development and testing of AI-based projects.Their applications span areas such as scientific data analysis, image processing, and natural language processing, demonstrating the potential of these technologies in multiple domains of knowledge.
National and European support infrastructures
In addition to these projects, FCCN promotes the adoption of AI through high-performance computing infrastructures, such as the Portuguese supercomputer. Deucalion, A resource that integrates national development strategies in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
In this context, it is also important to highlight the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, which operates the supercomputer. MareNostrum 5, a European infrastructure pre-exascale Co-financed by EuroHPC JU and the consortium led by Spain, which also includes Portugal, Romania and Turkey. Portugal holds a 5% stake in this infrastructure, funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, and is represented by the FCT, through the FCCN. This integration reinforces the national positioning in European advanced computing networks and expands opportunities for the Portuguese scientific community to access high-capacity resources.
These national and European resources are essential for training complex models and processing large volumes of information, meeting the growing demands of data-driven research.
More than just providing technology, FCT, through its digital services unit, FCCN contributes to the creation of an integrated ecosystem where infrastructure, services, and community are interconnected.In this contextScientific data can be transformed into educational tools, secure digital environments allow for collaboration and experimentation, and innovation... It reaches education and society more quickly.
This way, Artificial Intelligence is establishing itself not only as an emerging technology....but also as a catalyst for knowledge transfer and for strengthening the scientific and educational impact in Portugal.
