Não é todos os dias que se lê isto na prestigiada imprensa internacional: Thanks to €500 million inherited from its richest man, Portugal will unveil a medical research center next month that could put it at the forefront of advances against cancer.
Tudo isto graças a um doador privado: While American research has long benefited from such private donations, most of the financing in Europe has come from governments or pharmaceutical companies. In Germany, for instance, the Max Planck Society relies exclusively on public financing, while the country’s other leading research institute, the Fraunhofer Society, gets its money evenly split from the public and business.
E ficará isto em Portugal: The center will be inaugurated on Oct. 5 but will start operating only next year, gradually filling to a capacity of 500 researchers working alongside 100 physicians handling about 300 patients daily. That level of interaction is what the center’s backers claim will be unique, an approach also welcomed by other independent researchers.
