19th APDC Congress – Portugal must choose bets on innovation

Portugal welcomes new R&D networks

«Portugal has the potential to be the smart small west cost europe inovator«John Kao defended today during his speech at the APDC Congress that is taking place in Lisbon. In a presentation in which the piano was one of the interlocutors required to talk about the innovation process, the guru stressed that it is necessary to make choices and identify where and how the country wants to play globally.

The innovation process and how it can be generated in a massive way have centered the speech of the guru who has been involved in think thanks internationally and leads the Large Scale Innovation, an innovation laboratory. Showing that the geography of innovation is changing, and that it is no longer centered on large, more developed countries, as it did in the 1980s with the United States, John Kao points to the example of Singapore, which defined a three-point strategy for innovation .

«This is a good lesson for Portugal. There is no longer a linear link between size and leadership in innovation», he stresses.

Although he does not point to «remedies» or «recipes», not least because there is typically only one way, John Kao argues that one must make the right choice and follow a vision, while knowing how to communicate it and mobilize people and companies. «What is the right question for Portugal? The ingredients are here but we have to know what is the story behind the innovation».

Also invited to this panel, Carlos Zorrinho, Secretary of State for Energy and Innovation, recalled the work that has been done over the past four years with the Technological Plan and that will remain under his coordination, with a focus on modernization, growth and internationalization, now more mature.

Speaking of the choices mentioned by Kao, Carlos Zorrinho recalls that these are made and that they focus on the energy area, where Portugal has given examples at the international level. The vision of «combining energy and innovation with electronic communications supports creates enormous potential that the Portuguese Government will not fail to explore», guarantees Zorrinho.