Portuguese Ambassador Nuno Brito visits UT Austin

10 Feb 2012

Visit of the Ambassador of Portugal to the United States to The University of Texas at Austin

On February 2, 2012, The University of Texas at Austin welcomed Nuno Brito, the Portuguese Ambassador to the United States, accompanied by the Deputy Chief of Mission Rosa Batoreu.  As the first official visit by the Portuguese Ambassador to Texas, his main goal was to become acquainted with the activities of the UTAustin|Portugal CoLab program and analyze the potential of this ongoing collaboration between FCT and The University of Texas at Austin.

During the day, the Ambassador met Dr. Juan Sanchez, Vice President for Research, and Dr. Robert Peterson, Associate VP for Research CoLab PI.  Following this meeting, the Ambassador met with UT faculty members affiliated with the program and Portuguese students and researchers who are currently working in Austin.

The Ambassador then met with Dr. John Butler, Director of the IC² Institute, to discuss the success of the UTEN technology commercialization activities performed within the scope of the UT Austin|Portugal CoLab program regarding networking and training opportunities for technology transfer professionals and business development efforts for university-based startup Portuguese companies.

By the end of the visit, both parties expressed their willingness to continue a dialogue directed at exploring future avenues for collaboration.