After a first edition in 2023, dedicated to Innovation and the Factory of the Future, Guimarães once again brings together a group of experts around the theme of the economy, focusing on the “Drivers of the Economy – Net Zero, Creativity and Collaborative Innovation”.
Guimarães once again focuses his critical thinking on the Economy, with October once again being the month chosen to bring together a set of events focused on economic thinking.
For this second Edition of the Economy Month, the objective will be focused on sustainability and the role that different economic agents must assume in a world that wants to be more sustainable and conscious, as well as the influence that creativity and collaborative innovation have on achieving these goals. objectives, and the key to defining policies that effectively contribute to achieving the proposed objectives is in their hands.
For five weeks, various topics will be discussed, starting with a critical survey of the municipality’s current economic panorama, focusing on its path, state and destiny, going through the challenges and opportunities that the Net Zero economy presents currently and for the future. There is also space for discussion around the importance of Collaborative Networks for innovation and creativity, as a driver for business competitiveness. In this edition, the highlight is the Techstars Startup Week, from October 21st to 25th, which will be held for the first time in Portugal, with Guimarães being the city chosen to host this event that brings together entrepreneurs, investors and enthusiasts of the IT ecosystem. startups and which will bring together nationally and internationally renowned speakers and mentors.
In its first edition, which took place in October 2023, whose theme focused on “Innovation and Factory of the Future”, the initiative, promoted by the Municipality of Guimarães, had a total of 146 speakers, distributed across 25 distinct but complementary events, and which brought together more than 1400 participants, in a total of 80 hours of lectures, conferences and meetings. Three partnership protocols were signed to support the promotion of entrepreneurship and two infrastructures to support business creation were inaugurated.
From this fair, we move from “Innovation & Factory of the Future” to the next step, defining the current positioning of Guimarães (a region with a solid sense of responsibility with regard to new sustainability policies and ecological awareness), which focuses on new “Engines of the Economy – Net Zero, Creativity and Collaborative Innovation”, taking advantage of the fact that this is a region that has a very strong industrial, tourist and academic economic fabric, which are examples of good practices around the world and, therefore, this, highly accredited to encourage a healthy and fruitful discussion around the role that the local and national economy must assume in a future that is already our present.
Domingos Bragança, president of the City Council, considers it essential to discuss how the economic fabric of Guimarães, and the region, should interact in order to create a set of synergies that lead to a stronger and more sustainable economy.
“It is important to pragmatically assume the circularity of the economy, and this implies paying attention to partners from other areas of activity, something that is beginning to be done, but that has to be intensified”, he says. For the mayor, creativity and collaborative innovation are fundamental processes and concepts to achieve results that translate into ways of creating differentiating and transformative economic value for the territory in terms of its sectoral interdependence. As a predominantly industrial municipality, Guimarães must, according to Domingos Bragança, also invest in new sectors, with high technological value, and develop companies based on knowledge intensity, whether incremental or disruptive. Take advantage of the scientific ecosystem and research centers existing in the territory, benefiting from what Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, New Materials, Aerospace and Data sciences, and Health sciences, valuable resources available to companies, have to offer . This is a path that will project the region towards a promising and challenging future of opportunities, and collaboration is essential for this. And this depends on the will, on the desire: individual and collective.
As in the first edition, Economy Month will culminate with a week dedicated to gathering knowledge acquired, aimed at creating an action plan for long-term initiatives, strengthening current connections and encouraging future connections. The Economy Month will end with the II Guimarães Marca Gala, which will reward companies belonging to the project, with the aim of highlighting local business talent, highlighting individuals and organizations in different categories: export, innovation, internationalization, qualification, investment, sustainability, inclusion social, personality and revelation of the year.
“Drivers of the Economy – Net Zero, Creativity and Collaborative Innovation” will be an edition that promises to be a foundation for redefining the economic policies to be adopted in the times that follow. Follow the entire event at www.meseconomia.guimaraes.pt