A handful of nothing

I was invited to write this editorial right before the silly season, which has never seemed so far away – and not that silly – as it does this year.

Over the last year and a half, we have experienced unique times; however, as an institution, we were able to thrive and even surpass ourselves. This type of counter-cyclically activity is not uncommon, but uncertainty and fatigue will certainly leave a mark that will last in our memories.

But the future seems bright:

The four EU programmes for this decade – Recovery and Resiliency Plan, PT2030, Horizon Europe and INvestEU 21-27 –, focusing on the digital and sustainability agendas, point to very encouraging prospects for economic and social recovery, given the vast resources made available.

The Prime Minister António Costa stated that the Recovery and Resilience Plan is a unique opportunity “to do what has not yet been done”. Under the motto “Recovering Portugal, Building the Future”, the programme will provide 13.944 million euros in grants, with a quite significant share dedicated to the energy transition, digitalisation, and training, with the first calls ending in September.

The main challenges will be investing all the money in a productive way, effectively contributing to the country’s competitiveness and, simultaneously, finding the human resources needed to implement all the initiatives and projects.

Since its establishment, INESC TEC has grown more than 3.5 times; over the last 10 years, the level of activity and human resources doubled. In this sense, we are hoping that our institution will consolidate itself over the upcoming years, thus reinforcing its greatness and improving its internationalisation, becoming (even) more global, while providing the finest conditions for those who work at INESC TEC.

The complexity of managing an institution with this dimension and specificities increasingly requires the greater professionalisation of science management, with excellence at all levels.

There are many challenges: managing, attracting, and retaining human resources – especially in a post-pandemic period; safeguarding social responsibility – which also includes keeping people motivated and happy in their roles -, ensuring equality and inclusion, and respecting diversity; the management of funding requirements, available funding sources and their “mix”. However, there will be many opportunities for further improvement.

 Unusual and demanding times call for different strategies, more confidence and commitment, but also more flexibility. Moreover, they also require audacity and boldness, and a significant dose of courage and decision-making capacity, in order to leverage the necessary changes in due time.

It is up to each one of us to do our best, so that all these promising opportunities do not end up in a “handful of nothing”.

Enjoy your summer holidays!

Marta Barbas (Executive Advisor of the Board of Directors)