Mission & Vision - Our History- LS4FUTURE Associate Laboratory

Our DNA

The Associate Laboratory Life Sciences for a Healthy and Sustainable Future (LS4FUTURE) is a unique infrastructure in Portugal dedicated to the study of Life Sciences, at different levels of complexity through fundamental, applied, and translational research.

It gathers top-level scientists and critical mass in the Life Sciences area by bringing together:

Four Research Units: MOSTMICRO-ITQB NOVA, iNOVA4Health, Green-it and Gulbenkian Ciência.
Five Institutions: ITQB NOVA, NOVA Medical School, iBET, IGC and IPO Lisbon.

Our vision

The mission of LS4FUTURE is to create knowledge, innovate and translate research in life sciences towards a sustainable future for humankind and our planet.

Our mission & goals

LS4FUTURE subscribes to the One Health concept, working towards environmental and human health to ensure a sustainable future for humankind and our planet. We rely on our distinctive expertise in fundamental, clinical, and applied research and strong complementarity, coupled with strategic partnerships in Health, Industry, Education, Government and Municipalities. At LS4FUTURE we work to:

i) Create knowledge, innovate and swiftly translate novel findings to society in the areas of Health and Sustainability;

By supporting the performance of top-quality fundamental and applied research in Life Sciences, embracing its openness and digital transformation, and following the scientific programme of its four Thematic Lines;

ii) Train scientists and implement a recruitment plan to attract and retain top-level PhD holders;

By implementing a programme to develop scientific and technical careers of PhD holders within the framework of HRS4R;
By developing an integrated approach to attract, empower and retain internationally competitive researchers and staff, from the level of PhD students to the level of PIs, increasing the capacity of Portugal to attract and retain the best scientific talent;

iii) Increase our capacity to secure international funding and be part of global networks;

By achieving a high level of internationalization of teams, projects and funding that can compete with top world performers in R&D;

iv) Support public policies and respond to societal challenges, through strategic research and services able to give a rapid response to expected and unexpected threats.

By translating our knowledge into healthcare, products, services and processes, directly addressing societal, environmental and economic needs, and aligned with National and European priorities;

Our History

2000
LAO creation
ITQB NOVA, iBET, IGC

2000
2008
CEDOC joins LAO
2008
2011
LAO Renewal
2011
2015
LAO restructure
Research Units

2015
2021
LS4FUTURE creation
ITQB NOVA, iBET, IGC, NMS

2021

The Laboratório Associado de Oeiras, LAO, was created in 2000, being one of the first four Associate Laboratories in Portugal.

LAO’s mission was to explore the growing links between basic and applied research, to provide advanced scientific and technological training, to act as a consultant in areas of public interest, and to foster the development of new activities and products of economic interest.

It initially partner three institutions: ITQB NOVA, iBET, and IGC.

Later in 2008, the Centro de Estudos de Doenças Crónicas (CEDOC, now NMS) joined the Associate Laboratory.

LAO was nationally recognized as a pioneering model for promoting scientific careers. Its innovative program to recruit PhD researchers successfully attracted and retained top talent, significantly enriching research across LAO institutions. Many of these scientists went on to strengthen the national and international scientific landscape as their careers successfuly progressed.

As one of the examples of LAO success over the years, LAO was the most successful Portuguese research organization obtaining competitive funding through the European Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2011), in terms both of number of contracts (70) and funding (22.837.403€).

In 2015, LAO research was restructured according to the national implementation of Research Units (RU), with the creation of four RU that are now integrated in LS4FUTURE, all rated as Excellent: MOSTMICRO-ITQB, GREEN-IT, iNOVA4HEALTH, and IGC.

In 2021 the FCT awarded LS4FUTURE as Associate Laboratory.

With the partnership of its five key Institutions around the Lisbon Area and four RUs, it became the largest Associate Laboratory in Life Sciences in the 2021-2031 term.

The Associate Laboratory LS4FUTURE is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) through the funding LA/P/0087/2020 (DOI 10.54499/LA/P/0087/2020).

The Associated Laboratory LS4FUTURE is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) through the funding LA/P/0087/2020.