As president of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), I disagree with André Levy's overly pessimistic view of prospects for young scientists in the country (Nature 506, 159; 2014).

The cuts in PhD studentships and postdoctoral fellowships that Levy mentions have been partially offset by FCT-funded PhD programmes and a funding boost for the latest round of fellowships. Plenty of opportunities will arise for recruitment and retention of young scientists through the steady funding of research projects and centres by the FCT, and from increased international funding through programmes such as the European Union's Horizon 2020 scheme.

In the past two years, the FCT has launched initiatives to strengthen Portugal's research base: PhD programmes and career-development schemes; differentiated research grants; a rigorous evaluation of centres of excellence; and top-up incentives for centres that bring in European or non-public funding. We are also building a national road map for research infrastructure.

The exponential growth of research and development in Portugal in the past 20–30 years is set to continue as the challenges of quality and international competitiveness are addressed.