The Portuguese Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (PTNMR) network was created in 2005 with the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the frame of a national program (2003-2007) for acquisition and upgrading of scientific equipment. The main purpose is to endow the Portuguese research community with state-of-the art NMR equipment and to establish a national NMR hub to provide services in a spirit of partnership between all participating institutions. One of the objectives of the PTNMR is to promote collaboration between the several poles of the network, and to save funds by coordinating the re-equipment among all participating institutions, avoiding also undesirable duplication of equipment.
After the installation period (2007) the first two years of operation of the PTNMR (2008 and 2009) had no specific funding program. By the end of 2009, PTNMR activities were formally reported to FCT for evaluation. This evaluation considered scientific, operational and financial aspects such as: spectrometer usage, network activities (e.g. workshops, courses and other training activities), impact in post-graduate training (e.g. number of PhDs and post-docs), impact in research activity (e.g. number of research projects supported), and other scientific production indicators (e.g. publications, communications in conferences, etc) and operational costs (human resources and maintenance).
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy covers a plethora of methods and techniques, key for the study and characterization of new materials, fine chemicals and biological samples at the molecular level, with applications in health, nutrition, energy and environment. PTNMR offers access to equipment, services and skills in NMR to promote scientific and technological knowledge and to foster cooperation between public and private R&D institutions to increase their socio-economic impact. PTNMR is distributed over 7 regions, joining 10 academic institutions, and provides a coordinated access to a state-of-the-art and competitive platform of equipment, services and skills in NMR. PTNMR provides scientific support for R&D activities in all scientific areas that require advanced characterization of materials, fine chemicals and biological samples, fosters collaborative work between industry and academia, and organizes and supports advanced training activities. The strategy to achieve this mission encompasses: (i) providing access to powerful state-of-the-art equipment, competitive at the national and international level; (ii) supporting fundamental and applied R&D initiatives from academia (iii) strengthening academia-industry interactions by actively promoting industry access to the RI; (iv) promoting the creation of scientific jobs; (v) promoting internationalization by creating synergies between PTNMR and related ESFRIs. PTNMR supports a wide range of R&D projects in priority domains from the national and regional R&I strategy for smart specialization, either through provision of routine analytical services, scientific and technical assistance or by organizing and supporting training activities, thus enhancing the competitiveness of the national science and innovation, with a direct and broad impact on the socio-economic activities of the regions and the country.