The ministers of Economy and Science guarantee that the implementation of European funds “was never in question” and indicate that they are making progress with procedures to appoint Joana Mendonça’s successor to head the National Innovation Agency.
“The Minister of Economy and Sea, António Costa Silva, and the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato, took note yesterday at the end of the day [segunda-feira]of the decision to step down Joana Mendonça as president of the National Innovation Agency (ANI),” read the joint statement released today by the two ministries.
The Ministry of Economy and Sea and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education explain “that they are now initiating all necessary procedures underlying the process of designating the next leadership of ANI”.
According to the government, this concerns “the safeguarding of the public interest and the mission of ANI, namely in the context of the PRR and other European funds, the implementation of which was never in question”.
The guardianship “thank you” for “all Joana Mendonça’s work to promote innovation in Portugal”.
The president of the National Innovation Agency, Joana Mendonça, resigned on Monday in a letter addressed to the president of the board of directors of the General Assembly and economy minister, António Costa e Silva.
“Under Article 27 of the Statute of the Public Manager, I hereby present my resignation from the position of President of the National Innovation Bureau, ANI, as I believe that the conditions for my position and its functions are no longer met. practice,” wrote Joana Mendonça to open the document that the agency Lusa had access to.
After reminding that she had always made the position she was sworn into on May 1, 2021 available at the various custody changes, she explained the reasons for her decision.
In general, he argued, “these reasons are related to a growing difficulty in obtaining guardianship guidance, namely in matters of critical importance to the Agency”.
In more detail, he elaborated on the lack of response to the request for approval of ANI’s 2023 Activity Plan and Budget (PAO) proposal, “without which ANI cannot carry out its activities on a regular basis”.
Joana Mendonça also mentioned “a series of issues critical to the future of ANI”, which she considers “of the utmost national importance”, but for which she does not have “any interaction with the (…) guardianships”, which , he stressed, “have a clear influence on the development and promotion of public innovation policies”.
Of these, he highlighted some that he considered most relevant, such as Monitoring Mobilization Agendas for Innovation, Monitoring the ‘Interface Mission’, Eureka/Eurotars Programme, PT 2030 and SIFIDE.
In this way, he considered that the conditions for the exercise of the position had not been met, so he tendered his resignation as chairman of the board of directors of ANI and asked Costa e Silva to replace him by March 31.
The capital of the National Innovation Agency is subscribed in equal shares by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, through FCT — Foundation for Science and Technology (50%), and by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, through IAPMEI (50 %).
Source: DN
