Next year, in 2025, we will celebrate our 40th anniversary – a milestone that coincides with the 40th anniversary of Portugal’s signing of the Treaty of Accession to the European Communities. Since 1985, our institute has grown alongside Portugal’s path toward European integration, driven by a shared ambition to leverage science, technology, and innovation as engines of development. Over these four decades, our contributions have supported Portuguese and European research and innovation goals and strengthened Portugal’s role within the European Union’s collective ambition for a more competitive and cohesive Europe.
Over these four decades, INESC TEC has evolved from a small research unit to a nationally and internationally recognised institute. Our growth beyond Porto – with new partnerships and activities in Braga and Vila Real and a strategic representation in Brussels – reflects our commitment to advancing and aligning regional, national, and European research priorities. These developments highlight our institutional progress and efforts to strengthen Portugal’s presence in European dynamics and create more profound, integrated connections with partners across multiple research and innovation landscape layers.
Our aims for the future of science and technology
As we look to the future, our Strategic Plan for 2023-2030 builds on this foundation of European engagement. We recognise that addressing the key societal challenges of our time will benefit significantly from interdisciplinary collaboration, a hallmark of INESC TEC. By advancing and integrating diverse scientific domains, we aim to contribute to tackling complex issues such as digital transformation and sustainable energy with transformative and integrative science and technology. This strategic approach positions us as an enthusiastic key contributor to the next European Framework Programme (FP10), where our focus on digital sciences and technologies intersects with Europe’s need for strategic investments in digital technologies, green energy, and biotechnology – critical sectors for enhancing Europe’s competitiveness and resilience.
Our position paper on FP10, published earlier this year, anticipated many themes later outlined in Mario Draghi’s report on European competitiveness. Like Draghi, we stress the importance of technological leadership, sustainable growth, and strategic autonomy. A cohesive European research landscape that fosters innovation and excellence across all member states will enable countries like Portugal to strengthen their contributions and fully realise their potential within Europe’s broader ambition for innovation-driven growth.
Technological leadership is the cornerstone of Europe’s future competitiveness. Our position paper and Draghi’s report highlight the need for Europe to establish a more substantial presence in high-growth sectors such as cloud services, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. This will require strategic investments and a robust innovation pipeline, accelerating the transition from laboratory research to market-ready technologies.
Our upcoming 40th anniversary celebration will be an opportunity to showcase and further strengthen our contributions to European research and innovation. Throughout 2025, we will highlight the milestones that have positioned INESC TEC and Portugal as active participants in Europe’s technological progress while fostering new ideas and collaborations to shape the next phase of our collective journey. With a focus on deepening our engagement at regional, national, and European levels, the anniversary activities will reflect on our past achievements and serve as a platform to reinforce our commitment to driving our collective strategic priorities in science, technology, and innovation.
By João Claro, Chairman of the Board and CEO of INESC TEC
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