The FCCN unit's balance sheet for 2023

In 2023, there were several achievements from the more than 20 digital services that Foundation for Science and Technology, through the FCCN unit, makes available to the national teaching and research community. Here are some milestones we highlight that have contributed to promoting "Technology for Knowledge."

More than 600,000 higher education students and teachers used the Science, Technology and Society Network (RCTS) of the FCCN. By joining this national education network, the Research and Teaching community gained access to greater Communication, Collaboration, Security, and the development of new Scientific Knowledge.

Growth in the Connectivity area

They were more than 200 entities that in 2023 connected to the internet with speeds up to 100 Gbps, through RCTS IP, the data communication service that connects educational and scientific institutions to the global Internet. As for the Eduroam, service guarantees secure internet access to students, teachers, researchers and institutional collaborators, exponential growth was noted in 2023, registering approximately 114 million authentications in roaming, which is equivalent to an evolution of 86.9% compared to 2022.

More impact on National Computing

Through the National Advanced Computing Network 42 million core hours were allocated for supercomputer research, 20% more than in 2022. Also the service RCTS Housing, which enables computer hosting in a Datacenter, stood out in 2023, allowing 116 racks were housed in this equipment.

More collaboration in the Teaching and Research community

The annual service balance Filesender was positive, highlighting the milestone of 112,000 Gigabits of shared multimedia content by the community.

In multimedia services, there were several highlights: the number of hours of recording in the HD Studio grew compared to last year – 58.6% -, totaling 568 hours, and the service Videocast had 21 thousand hours of live event broadcasts, a number higher than the 14 thousand hours recorded in 2022. THE Hummingbird hosted 1.3 million meetings and webinars over the past 12 months.

FCCN services enabled the creation of more knowledge in 2023

THE SHIP, a pioneering e-learning platform in Portugal, featured 59,000 new users and 202,000 registrations for its online courses, with both values having increased compared to 2022. Arquivo.pt, which allows you to search and access preserved web pages, had 1.9 million page views in 2023, 100 thousand more than in 2022.

The service Educast, which offers the possibility of recording, editing and publishing educational videos, has grown, having been produced around 5 thousand videos. The online knowledge library b-on recorded 20 million downloads of scientific articles in 2023. THE RCAAP – Open Access Scientific Repositories of Portugal -, reached the milestone of 770,000 open access scientific contents, 100 thousand more than in 2022, and the service VITAE Science, the national system for managing scientific curricula, registered around 11,500 new science CVs.

Security highlights in 2023

THE service RCTS CERT, responsible for managing cybersecurity incidents within the RCTS network, and the RCTS Certificates, which awards certification to entities, made a positive assessment. The first reported and validated 350 cybersecurity incidents, while RCTS Certificados issued 8,500 security certificates during the year.

More participants and speakers at FCCN Conference 2023

Finally, we highlight the evolution of the main annual event for the academic and research community, the FCCN Conferences. In the 2023 edition, the event had 569 participants, 11% more than in 2022. Over three days, 29 sessions took place and were present 32 sponsors. The initiative included 120 speakers, compared to the 37 who had participated in 2022.

These were just some of the many positive milestones for the FCCN unit in 2023. For the year that is now beginning, the ambition to continue promoting "Technology for Knowledge" remains.