New programme promotes innovation

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The Portuguese government launched an Integrated Innovation Support Programme in May 2001, aimed at helping modernise the national economy and boost its competitiveness. The objective is to create the conditions that allow innovation to thrive, notably by: increasing individual qualification levels; minimising discrepancies in basic education; stimulating companies' innovative abilities; and creating a network of key institutions to develop this process. The issue of economic modernisation has been high on the social partners' agenda.

In May 2001, the Portuguese government launched an Integrated Innovation Support Programme (Programa Integrado de Apoio à Inovação) under the slogan Innovate to grow (Inovar para crescer). The programme represents a significant step forward in tackling the structurally outdated nature of the Portuguese economy - an issue which is of great concern to the social partners, with trade unions especially prominent in calling for economic modernisation.

The programme has the following stated aims:

• to create an environment on the part of both citizens and the public administration that favours the capacity of companies to innovate; and

• to make the Portuguese economy more competitive. Over the past five years, productivity has grown at an annual rate of 1.5%, well below the European average.

The programme is geared towards:

• creating conditions that allow innovation to thrive;

• increasing individual qualification levels and minimising discrepancies in basic education;

• stimulating companies' innovative abilities; and

• creating a network of key institutions that are designed to develop this process

The measures to be implemented under the programme include:

• increasing the number of companies exporting to demanding markets;

• increasing the use of e-commerce;

• promoting "innovation clusters" that reinforce partnership ties between companies;

• promoting research and development (R&D);

• realigning policies for securing direct foreign investment;

• creating improved conditions for the creation of technology-based companies;

• introducing more quality certification;

• improving information and support networks for companies;

• enhancing education and training aimed at producing more mid-level technical staff,

• increasing basic skills in maths;

• promoting experience-based learning; and

• producing more university graduates in order to reform the public administration system

Some of the measures are related to the management of human resources, namely:

• investment in R&D staff, with a view to combating structural backwardness through the establishment of skills in R&D units; and

• investment in graduate training in areas considered to be fundamental to the renewal of the country's business fabric, most of all in subjects which are critical factors for competitiveness, such as support skills for innovation as well as technological and organisational skills.

The programme's measures will be implemented over the period up to 2006, when the EU's Third Community Support Framework - which contributes to the programme - ends

The background to the new innovation programme goes back to the 1980s. At this time, Michael Porter, author of the noted economic text on competitiveness, "The competitive advantage of nations", carried out a study of the Portuguese economy. The study sparked a public debate in which the social partners took part. The message that emerged was that the Portuguese economy should improve its skills in areas such as the auto industry, footwear, textiles, wood products, tourism and wine. According to Maria João Rodrigues, who will act as the coordinator of the new programme, when this option of developing the traditional industries was decided upon, the following aspects should have been considered:

• Portugal had not yet reached the necessary state of development. The remedy that was recommended was one applicable to an economy during its competitive stage of innovative development, which was not the case for Portugal; and

• information technology would have provided wide-based support for "innovation clusters". This was of fundamental importance but was not sufficiently developed at the time, nor subsequently.

The aim of the new programme is to overcome these problems.