From the diaspora to public policy: SPOT Nordic’s proposal joins the debate on the future of innovation in Portugal
- SPOT Nordic
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
The Portuguese Government’s recent openness to involving the scientific diaspora in shaping the new Portuguese Research and Innovation Agency (AI²) reflects a strategic discussion that SPOT Nordic has already been actively contributing to over recent months regarding the future of innovation financing in Portugal.
According to a recently published news report, the Government confirmed that it is engaging with associations of Portuguese researchers abroad, including SPOT Nordic, recognising the contribution of these organisations to the ongoing reform of Portugal’s science and innovation system. This development comes only weeks after SPOT Nordic presented, at the Portugal Nação Global Forum, a strategic proposal advocating for the creation of a Portuguese corporate foundation framework inspired by successful models from Denmark and Sweden.
A Structural Proposal to Rethink Innovation Financing
The report developed by SPOT Nordic under the PCID programme (Portugal–Denmark: Science, Innovation and Diplomacy) is based on a comparative analysis between Portugal and the leading Nordic countries. Its central argument is that Portugal’s main structural challenge is not the quality of its scientific output, but rather its ability to mobilise long-term private capital for research, development and innovation.
The analysis shows that Portugal continues to face significant shortcomings in business expenditure on R&D, venture capital availability, and the institutional mechanisms that effectively connect science, capital and industry.
The report’s core recommendation is the creation of a new legal entity within the Portuguese framework: the self-owning corporate foundation, inspired by governance structures found in some of Europe’s most innovative economies. Such foundations allow strategically important companies to be partially owned by mission-driven foundations that reinvest a meaningful share of their dividends into science, innovation, advanced education and technological development.
Examples such as the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Carlsberg Foundation and the Wallenberg ecosystem demonstrate how these models can simultaneously provide shareholder stability, strengthen industrial competitiveness and ensure sustained investment in knowledge creation.
From Science to Capital: Portugal’s Innovation Challenge
In the recently published article, David Pereira de Castro, President of SPOT Nordic, reinforces this perspective: “Portugal already has one of the highest levels of public support relative to private investment in Europe. The challenge is that there is no strategy capable of bringing the private sector into innovation and research financing at the same scale as other countries.”
The report argues that Portugal’s challenge is not simply the amount of science it produces, but rather the difficulty of transforming knowledge into business scale, productivity gains and long-term economic growth. The proposal put forward by SPOT Nordic seeks to address this challenge by creating structural mechanisms capable of bringing science, capital and industry closer together through a model based on patient, long-term investment.
A Contribution to AI² and a New Generation of Public Policy
For SPOT Nordic, the establishment of AI² represents a particularly important opportunity to discuss not only more funding for science, but better financing mechanisms.
The report submitted to the Portuguese Government presents nine structural recommendations, including:
The creation of a dedicated legal framework for corporate foundations;
The development of tailored fiscal incentives;
The launch of sector-specific pilot programmes;
Stronger public-private co-financing mechanisms;
The expansion of industrial PhD programmes.
According to Joana Lobo Vicente, Scientific Council Coordinator of SPOT Nordic: “Private capital exists in Portugal. What is missing are the legal structures capable of channeling it, at scale and over time, towards research and innovation. Corporate foundations are the missing piece in the Portuguese innovation system.”
The Strategic Role of the Scientific Diaspora
The news also highlights the growing relevance of the Portuguese scientific diaspora as a source of comparative knowledge, international experience and cross-ecosystem connectivity.
Over recent years, SPOT Nordic has established itself as a platform for science and economic diplomacy between Portugal and the Nordic countries, promoting not only institutional networking but also concrete policy proposals aimed at strengthening competitiveness, productivity and long-term innovation.
The Portuguese Government’s recognition of these contributions sends an important signal regarding the value of engaging highly qualified Portuguese communities abroad and incorporating international perspectives into the design of the country’s next generation of structural reforms.
To hear here (in portuguese) until minute 10:05:
Comments