Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol2-1 > Innovation Portugal

The main characteristics of the National Innovation System (NIS) in Portugal have remained largely unchanged. It includes a wide spectrum of players, due to a process of development of scientific and technological organisations, due in part to the successive Community Support Frameworks.

The range of science and technology (S&T) players is wide, ranging from universities and public laboratories, through associated laboratories and S&T parks to technological infrastructures and technological centres. The most recent addition that has been made to these players is the Iberian International Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), a joint endeavour of Portugal and Spain.

In the financing field there is also a large number of actors, although the development of seed and venture capital remains weak. The key players in the NIS are, however, business firms. The Portuguese economic fabric is characterised by a very high share of SMEs.

While a crust of high-performing companies has developed, many SMEs still lack the in-house capabilities needed to achieve international competitiveness and to successfully focus on “high-end” markets.

There is wide consensus that the chief weakness of the NIS in Portugal is the low density and depth of the linkages established among the players in the system.

For many years, since the Porter Report in the early 1990s, the design of a cluster policy has been in the policy agenda as a key instrument to foster co-operation and linkages among the actors in the NIS.

But only in the National Strategic Reference Framework 2007-13 (NSRF) has a cluster policy been established. The first Competitiveness and Technology Poles (CTP) and Other Clusters selected were disclosed in July 2009.

It is expected that proper implementation of the cluster policy might play a very important role in responding to the above-mentioned weakness. The European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2008 data upgraded Portugal in the EU-27 innovation ranking, from 21st to 16th place.

Main innovation challenges

• Strengthening of SMEs in-house capabilities.
• Transforming the cluster policy initiative into an effective mechanism for change.
• Improving policy co-ordination, delivery and medium-term consistency.

Conclusion

Portugal has a wide set of innovation policy measures addressing different perspectives of innovation. What is needed now is an improvement of co-ordination, delivery and evaluation. The role of the National Coordinator of the Technological Plan and the Lisbon Strategy could be strengthened to promote a more coherent innovation policy. Further integration could be developed between IIS and RTDSS to avoid the current replication in ministerial domains.

The NSRF 2007-13 assigned responsibilities to regional authorities. Online management of applications has contributed to increasing transparency. The pressure of the European Commission to carry out ex ante and ex post evaluations of the successive CSFs has contributed to laying down the roots of an evaluation culture.