Innovation

Consolidate the region as an innovative territory

AML Strategic Innovation Plan (2024)

The scope of the Strategic Innovation Plan for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (2024) is to guide activity related to the implementation and management of innovation in the region. Strengthening this capacity is a huge challenge which, if achieved, will help the territory to have a better quality of life in which to live, work and visit, and to be more attractive to entrepreneurs and investors who can contribute to boosting the region's economic growth and development. To this end, two main objectives have been set:

Objective 1 - A global region

Development of a set of "high value-added" innovation outputs/inputs, in order to ensure that the territory is conducive to the development of innovative dynamics which, by fostering the attraction and retention of talent and entrepreneurs, can be recognized abroad as a territory with quality of life, an environment conducive to creativity, co-creation and the generation of ideas.

Objective 2 - A cohesive region

Contributing to greater internal cohesion, strengthening institutional capacity for more flexible, participatory and collaborative governance models, activating win-win cooperation strategies that will dictate, according to the collective will of the 18 municipalities, the evolution of innovation processes in the future of the AML and their possible replication throughout the national territory, also strengthening the cohesion of the country on this scale.

In order to achieve the proposed objectives, the degree of coherence between the needs for action and coordination derived from the innovation strategy defined for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the supply capacity currently made available by the different municipalities was assessed; new municipal innovation initiatives were also identified, using structured methods of creativity and idea generation, as well as systematizing a set of contributions from a broad panel of experts.

This collective discussion involved around a hundred participants, 20 of whom were experts in various fields of innovation, as well as around 80 interlocutors from the 18 municipalities that make up the AML.

These outputs were cross-referenced with the information gathered in the previous diagnostic phase, as well as with a set of public policies at various scales (international, national and regional). Using prospective methodologies, namely PESTEL and SWOT, the external and internal contexts were analyzed, taking into account the main potentials and threats for the development of a metropolitan Innovation Ecosystem. Based on this approach, three possible prospective scenarios were systematized: 1. Optimistic-Expansion Scenario; 2. Realistic-Incremental Scenario and 3. Pessimistic-Return Scenario.

The Realistic-Incremental scenario was considered the most appropriate for the current metropolitan context, allowing for the creation of structural conditions for the progressive increase of innovative approaches in the 18 municipalities and their territories, based on continued collaborative work and the sharing of experiences.

Finally, and as a result of this long and complex process, a collective construction model has emerged, which proposes an understanding of the concept of innovation to be adopted in the region, the collective ambition, the vision and its main strategic axes.

This was a path towards collectively finding a Key Purpose based on the region's main identity triggers , capable of unleashing what is "special" and unique about the region and, therefore, strengthening regional and national cohesion and reinforcing its strategic position in Europe and its connection to the world.

Innovation Action Plan

Following on from the Strategic Plan for Innovation in AML (PEI-AML), work is underway to conclude the respective Action Plan, with the definition of a set of priority projects, promoting development and cohesion in the Region, aligned with the realistic-incremental scenario chosen in the PEI-AML and classified by the municipalities, by degree of priority assigned, according to the respective strategic axes of the Plan: 1. Symbolic Capital; 2. Smart Region; 3. Research Clusters; 4. Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Innovation; and 5. Global Marketing.

Contribute to the strengthening of the metropolitan governance system, through a clear vision of strategic priorities and the respective strengthening of the portfolio of transversal projects, such as the improvement of infrastructure, with the implementation of a shared information systems architecture that allows for the collection of data in real time, centralized in an integrated platform, which establishes a holistic operational management model integrating technological solutions and taking advantage of data correlation for the purpose of an AML for people, redefining the relationship between public services and citizens, promoting their proactive involvement in decision-making.

Application to the Smart Territories Program

Within the scope of the Smart Region theme and with the introduction of an Addendum to the RRP agenda last year, with the aim of strengthening some of the components of the digital transition, for which adequate and/or sufficient measures were not provided, namely to help the Public Administration adapt to the ongoing Digital Transition, the Smart Territories Program was created, coordinated by the Agency for Administrative Modernization (AMA), in order to make it operational through the aforementioned Programme, which provides for investments specifically geared towards the Digital Transition, namely for capacity building on the theme of Smart Territories, with a particular focus on the national dissemination of Urban Management Platforms (UMP).

The Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (AML), together with fourteen of the eighteen municipalities that make it up - Alcochete, Amadora, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Palmela, Odivelas, Oeiras, Seixal, Setúbal, Sesimbra, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira - applied to the Intelligent Territories Program in the third quarter of this year with Application Notice No. 01/C19-i08/2024 | Intelligent Territories | Acquisition and Development of Urban Management Platforms.No. 01/C19-i08/2024 | Intelligent Territories | Acquisition and development of Urban Management Platforms.

This Application, based on the Innovation Strategy for the AML, namely on the assumptions of its 2024 Strategic Plan, with a focus on its axis 2 - "Smart Region", aims to respond to two major structural priorities for the Region: 1. the need to organize its governance model and, 2. the implementation of an Urban Management Platform, suitable for implementing it.

In this sense, the project submitted to the application aims to provide a strategic direction for the region, whose previous organizational and technological focus is, precisely, a critical success factor for greater optimization in the management of services, contributing to the progressive improvement of responses, interoperability, scalability between systems and the promotion of long-term sustainability, ensuring gains in scale, effectiveness and efficiency, thus giving visibility to the region's purpose, in what is unique and singular.

The possibility of working in an integrated way, on an urban management platform (UMP) integrating several verticals (VT), with data from different areas, sources and origins, will allow for a global and coordinated centralization of operations, fostering a more efficient institutional culture with shared resources and infrastructures, as well as the possibility of jointly acquiring advanced technologies and training human resources, with clear gains in scale and a reduction in the investment required by each municipality.

This project is expected to bring about significant improvements in the interoperability and integration of systems and data, facilitating collaboration at various territorial and stakeholder scales, speeding up the introduction of new services and improving communication between entities, creating a more intelligent, connected inter-municipal network, with a governance model that favors greater collaboration and the development of citizenship with a focus on strengthening democracy and citizens' quality of life.

AML's participation in the Smart Territories Training Program

AML and its associated municipalities are taking part in the Smart Territories Training Program in Public Administration, an essential component for the development of a "Local Action Plan", training their human resources for the Digital Transition within the scope of the "National Smart Territories Strategy".

This program is designed to train local government leaders, decision-makers and senior technicians and is structured in four sequential modules: Module 1 - Leadership and Innovation in Smart Territories; Module 2 - Innovation and Data in Smart Territories; Module 3 - Local Action Plan; Module 4 - Analytics Applied to Smart Territories.

The training began at the end of October and will run for five months until the end of March 2025. The first three compulsory training modules are geared towards learning, planning and implementing an "Action Plan" to implement the Smart Territories Program that AML has applied for.

Social Innovation and Circularity

AML is a partner in the Local Action Group - Urbact - IV - Let's Go Circular Project, a European program for learning and exchanging experiences in promoting sustainable urban development. This project consists of defining lines of action and organizing the respective thematic teams that collaborate, together with Lisboa E-Nova and the Municipal Directorate of Economy and Innovation, in URBACT Let's Go Circular, jointly drawing up an Integrated Action Plan for the Circular Economy in Lisbon 2023-2025.

It is worth mentioning the strategic added value of this type of "open innovation" project for "inspiration" in creating public value through the generation of new ideas, services, relationships and collective learning, strengthening institutional trust and, in this sense, in line with the strategic guidelines of the AML Strategic Plan for Innovation, embodying learning focused on axis 4. Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Innovation Indicators 2024

Data from the latest Global Innovation Index 2024 report shows that Portugal has dropped one position in the global innovation ranking compared to 2023, and currently ranks 31st out of 133 countries.

It is in terms of "Creative Outputs" and "Human Capital and Research" that we continue to find our best position, albeit with a drop of one position for the former, compared to 2023, now occupying 20th place, and a rise of two positions for the latter, compared to 2023, to 21st place, respectively. The positions of these two indicators were reversed, with an increase in "Human Capital and Research", whose value had been decreasing in previous years, and a less positive decrease in "Creative Outputs".

Of the other indicators assessed, there was a drop of one position compared to 2023 for "Technology and Knowledge Outputs" (from 32nd to 33rd place) and, the most significant value and of particular relevance to public policies, which had risen twelve places in the ranking last year for the development of "Institutions", namely in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of government systems, their regulatory development and their entrepreneurship, economic and cultural development policies (moving up from 47th to 35th, this year dropping two positions to 37th).

Also noteworthy was the positive performance of the "Market Sophistication" indicator, which rose six places in the ranking compared to 2023, from 42nd to 36th respectively.

Also in the world talent ranking, Portugal is in 25th place, losing ground in the "Investment & Development (R&D)" indices - after being in 22nd place in 2022, Portugal fell to 27th place in 2023 and 29th in 2024 and in "Attractiveness", which has seen the biggest drop, with Portugal now in 45th place, after being 37th in 2023, 40th in 2022 and 30th in 2021. This trend can be explained by the "talent drain", which affects the competitiveness of performance, according to the IMD World Talent Ranking.

There is therefore a long way to go for the country, and the AML in particular, to be able to position itself in the front ranks in terms of competitiveness and innovation. According to the aforementioned reports, it is particularly problematic not only to drop another position in the global ranking, but also specifically in terms of our structural backwardness in the quality of institutions, plus the worrying declines in terms of "Creative Outputs".

And it is in this collective effort that municipalities have a strategic opportunity to play a key role as agents promoting sustainable development and their leadership role in responding to the needs of communities. 

Promoting well-being and quality of life in a metropolitan environment therefore requires organizations, companies and citizens to join forces to promote development, competitiveness, growth and cohesion, ensuring that in the four major transitions underway - digital, circular, energy and demographic - urban populations, in their diversity of conditions, are not left behind. 

The most recent successful experiences show that the "trigger" for the transformative force lies precisely in collaboration and the collective building of trust capital.