Lisbon, Jan.8, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Government will create a Centre of Excellence in artificial intelligence (AI) that will be integrated into the Agency for Technological Reform of the State (ARTE) to act as a "cross-cutting leader within the State," the Ministry of State Reform announced on Thursday.

This Centre, which will be created in the first half of 2026, is part of a set of measures that are part of the National Artificial Intelligence Agenda (ANIA), published today in the official government gazette, and aims to "avoid duplication and accelerate priority use cases".

"The Centre of Excellence will function as the structure that resolves the main obstacles that currently prevent the adoption of AI in Public Administration — the fragmentation of projects, unscalable pilots, lack of interoperability and the complexity of public procurement," reads a document released by the State Reform Office.

The ministry considers that such "barriers lead to slow adoption and efficiency losses, even though many tasks are similar between agencies".

According to the document, the office headed by Gonçalo Matias believes that "as many processes are cross-cutting", namely "application analysis, document management, financial planning, expenditure control or legal advice", AI tools can be applied in various entities.

"The Centre of Excellence at the Agency for Technological Reform of the State (ARTE) will coordinate this work, creating reusable solutions, ensuring interoperability and avoiding duplication of investment," the document concludes.

The Government will also create Sectoral AI Centres that "will focus on product development, in an innovation consortium between academia, companies and the Public Administration".

"We will start with Health, leveraging the work of the Centre for Responsible AI and Industry and Robotics," the document reads.

AJR/AYLS // AYLS

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