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1. OSEAN—Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, hereinafter OSEAN, is a research and technological development unit, assigned to the University of Madeira (UMa), under the terms of the Regulations for training, research, and service provision projects from the University of Madeira (Regulation no. 614/2016), published in Diário da República, 2nd series, no. 122, of June 28, 2016.
2. The functioning and organization of OSEAN falls within the regulatory framework applicable to Portuguese institutions dedicated to scientific research and technological development established in the Legal Regime for Scientific Research Institutions and published in Diário da República, 1st series-A, no. 92, of 20 April 1999, Decree-Law no. 125/99 and also in the legal regime of the Regional System for the Development of Research, Technology and Innovation (SRDITI), published in the Official Journal of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (RAM), of May 14, 2013, Regional Legislative Decree no. 16/2013/M.
3. The essential purposes of OSEAN are to carry out research, training, scientific dissemination, connection to society, digitalization, innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship.
X. Submit winning research projects to national and international agencies’ competitions.
XI. Organize scientific events, namely congresses, conferences, seminars, and the like.
XII. Disseminate research results among peers and in civil society.
XIII. Develop fundamental and applied research that allows organizations to solve problems related to Digitization, Innovation, Sustainability, and Entrepreneurship. Facilitate dialogue between researchers and organizations in the economic fabric.
XIV. Produce publications with a high impact factor.
XV. Actively collaborate in a business incubation center.
XVI. In the future, join a Ph.D consortium. Participate in management, innovation, entrepreneurship and development networks.
1. Considering the scientific areas and fields of intervention, OSEAN, through its fundamental and applied research, aims to create an impact on the community and obtain recognition of excellence, not only from its peers but also from society itself.
2. OSEAN bases its conduct on the best international scientific practices. It is guided by the following values:
a) Clear and fair rules.
b) Honesty and transparency in procedures.
c) Harmony, internal peace and with others in the academic community and civil society.
d) Temperance.
e) Ethics.
f) Freedom.
1. Although interdisciplinary in scope, the following are scientific areas and areas of preferential intervention by OSEAN:
a) Green and Blue Economy
Based on three pillars of sustainable business development in the green and blue economy—social, economic, and environmental—in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, proposing circular and regenerative economic models; and the ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) strategy. Core activities are:
i) Contribute to increasing the competitiveness of companies in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
ii) Disseminate good international practices to support the performance of organizations in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
iii) Reinforce education, training, and cooperation programs with other ORs and other regions in Europe and the world.
b) Eco-Entrepreneurship
Tackling the environmental issues of entrepreneurship. Core activities are:
i) Research behavior of markets and consumers of ecological products and services, namely products and services associated with the sea, agriculture, tourism, education, and health.
ii) Stimulate business models that combine digital and physical infrastructures within the scope of the circular economy.
iii) Support the development of new business models in the line of entrepreneurship, with a tendency toward eco-entrepreneurship. Support the creation of monetization models related to services rather than products.
iv) Facilitate the business application of innovation in products, technologies, materials, and sustainable processes resulting from research and development, mobilized by OSEAN in the context of sustainability.
v) Encourage the development of (digital) business platforms that will allow customers and suppliers to manage resources—materials and energy, in particular—in radically diverse ways.
c) Green Accounting and Sustainable Finance
The environment is becoming a central issue in the business world and economic and financial activities. To respond to pressure from stakeholders, companies will have to collect, process, use, and disseminate information related to the natural environment. Core activities are:
i) Research environmental accounting metrics, their institutionalization, and their impact on market behavior.
ii) Research funding sources for sustainable investments (namely “green bonds” and other financial instruments).
d) Digital Innovation
The fourth industrial revolution is transforming the business reality in an accelerated way. Characterized by Connectivity, Databases, and Computing (Sensors, Internet of Things, “Cloud”, and “Blockchain”); Advanced Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence; Human-Machine Interaction (Virtual Reality, Robotics and Automation); and Advanced Engineering (3D Printing, Nanoparticles, Renewable Energies). Core activities are:
i) Research new organizational models that stimulate innovation and creativity in the development of ecologically efficient and economically viable solutions.
ii) Research and develop new products and technological solutions (including processes) for a more circular economy.
iii) Promote the link between higher education researchers and their partners to experiment with sustainable technologies, materials, and processes.
iv) Develop sustainable sources of raw materials and components.
v) Increase the use of clean energy sources: solar, wind, and marine.
e) Sustainability and Social Inclusion
The corporate responsibility of organizations already goes beyond the simple creation of value and, in the future, will also have to be an agent of change for an environmentally friendly, more inclusive society with equal opportunities for its citizens. Core activites are:
i) Research the effectiveness of mechanisms to encourage corporate responsibility in organizations.
ii) Research the practice of the “Principles for Responsible Management Education” and the role of HEIs in implementing local and regional sustainability and inclusion strategies.
1. Effective members of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group may be:
a) Professors, researchers, and other Ph.Ds. with a contractual relationship with UMa, in effectiveness of functions;
b) Ph.D. professors and researchers with a contractual relationship with another Portuguese or foreign higher education institution, when duly authorized by it;
c) Other doctorates, duly authorized whenever their contractual relationship with an institution so requires;
d) Post-doctoral fellows to develop their activity in the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group with a contract for a period equal to or greater than one year.
2. To be an effective member of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group, it is a necessary condition that you dedicate at least 20% of your time to research activities to be carried out in the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group.
3. The participation of a non-teaching and non-research UMa employee in the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group must be made known to his/her hierarchical superior, unless the employee’s activity in the research group takes place outside their normal working hours.
4. They may also be part of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group as collaborating members, master’s, and doctoral students, as well as fellows and other researchers who do not meet the requirements to be an effective member of according to paragraph 1.
5. The same person can only be an effective member of a UMa research group as a collaborating member.
6. An effective member of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group can also be an integrated member of an FCT Unit based outside UMa, but not the person in charge of them (Coordinator), assuming, however, that the assessment of the set of these participations, within the scope of the evaluation of the performance of UMa teachers, can never exceed that which corresponds to a participation as an integrated member in an FCT Unit at UMa, or in a Pole of an FCT Unit at UMa (defined as in article 12 of the Regulation on training, research, and service provision projects at the University of Madeira).
7. The sum of the percentages that a UMa professor dedicates to the different research groups in which he participates, as an effective or integrated member (in the case of FCT Units), must be compatible with the percentages of time dedicated to other activities in which he is involved (pedagogical and service).
1. The Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group will have the essential human and material resources for ensuring its regular operation, which will be provided by the management bodies of the University of Madeira.
1. The Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group has the following bodies:
a) Responsible;
b) Scientific Council.
1. The Scientific Coordinator is elected by the Scientific Council of the Unit, from among its members, for a period of two years.
1. The Scientific Coordinator’s competencies are:
a) Represent and cause the Unit to be represented;
b) Ensure the Unit’s articulation with the scientific decision-making bodies of the University of Madeira;
c) Ensure the Unit’s financial and administrative management;
d) Coordinate all the means available to the Unit in order to ensure the achievement of its objectives;
e) Convene and coordinate the meetings of the Board, the Scientific Council, the External Scientific Advisory Commission, and the Plenary;
f) Exercise the other powers conferred on it by the Regulations of the Multiannual Financing Program for R&D Units and the Research Institute.
1. The Scientific Council of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group is composed of all effective members of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group.
1. The powers of the OSEAN Scientific Council are:
a) Elect the Scientific Coordinator of the Unit;
b) Approve the constitution of the Permanent External Scientific Advisory Committee;
c) Assess the Unit’s main lines of investigation;
d) Assess lines of investigation presented by the Unit’s Management;
e) Assess all scientific matters submitted to it;
f) Assess the annual work plan presented by the Unit’s Management;
g) Assess the annual activity report presented by the Unit’s Management;
h) Assess the annual budget presented by the Unit’s Management, including the internal funding rules;
i) Decide on the admission of new members and change of groups of current members;
j) Decide on the creation or extinction of research groups;
k) Approve the Unit’s regulations.
1. The Plenary meets ordinarily once a year and extraordinarily when called by the Scientific Coordinator of the Unit;
2. The External Scientific Advisory Committee meets ordinarily once a year and extraordinarily when convened by the Scientific Coordinator of the Unit;
3. The Scientific Council ordinarily meets once a semester or when convened by the Scientific Coordinator of the Unit or by a third of its members;
4. The Scientific Coordinator of the Unit is responsible for calling the meetings at least two working days in advance and must include the proposed agenda;
5. Collegiate bodies can only meet when the existence of a quorum is proven (half plus one of its members);
6. The decisions of collegiate bodies are taken by simple majority, except in the cases of:
a. The dismissal of the Unit’s Scientific Coordinator;
b. Amendments and additions to the present Regulation requiring a qualified majority of two thirds of the members in office.
1. If the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group is not evaluated externally, under the terms of the law, then it will be evaluated every three years, under the terms of the following number, ceasing activity if they do not obtain a classification greater than or equal to Good in the last-evaluated three-year period, unless there are exceptional reasons that justify the obtained classification, accepted by the person responsible for the research area’s Rectory, which may allow the group’s activity to continue for another three-year period.
2. The classification of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group, in a given triennium, is seen as evaluating the research activities of all its members and calculated as follows:
a) It is assumed that in the period in question, the effective members of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group dedicate 30% of their time to research and knowledge enhancement activities (regardless of what the actual percentage was of their time that each effective member indicated as affecting the group’s activity);
b) The number of points obtained in the investigation and knowledge enhancement activities, in the triennium in question, by each effective member of the group, calculated in accordance with the regulation of the performance evaluation of UMa teachers, is calculated and multiplied by 100 and divided by the percentage of time that the member concerned is assumed to have devoted to these activities, i.e., under the terms of the previous number, 30;
c) In the event that an effective member has not been included in the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group during the entire three-year period, the score obtained during the period in question is calculated, pursuant to the previous paragraph, and is converted proportionally to the triennium;
d) The numerical average of the classifications obtained by the effective members is calculated, corresponding to the following qualitative classification for the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group:
1. Amendments to these Regulations must be approved by two-thirds of the effective members of the Scientific Council of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group, through a proposal from the Head of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group or one-third of the effective members of the Scientific Council of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group, at a meeting of this body expressly convened for this purpose at least seven consecutive days in advance.
2. Doubts or gaps in the application of this Regulation must be resolved by the Scientific Council of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group, through a proposal from the Head of the Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OSEAN) Research Group.
3. The present Regulation enters into force immediately after its approval by the President of ESTG / Rector of the University of Madeira and due publicity.
The Outermost Regions Sustainable Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is formed by a network of researchers that acts as a single organic body. From the formulation of propositions, it begins the search for new methodologically demonstrable findings.
Address:
Colégio dos Jesuítas
Rua dos Ferreiros
9000-039 Funchal
Madeira Island—Portugal
Contacts:
00351 912 365 049
osean.social@gmail.com