Critical technologies for the North of Portugal in 2015: the case of ITCE sectors information technologies, communication and electronics

Abstract

The Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of the North of Portugal (CCDR-N) promoted NORTINOV 2015, a project created to define a regional innovation strategy for the North of Portugal based on automotive clusters and Information Technology, Communication and Electronics (ITCE) clusters. Accordingly, it developed a technology forecast for the year 2015 in order to help the North of Portugal cope with the intensifying global competition and rapid technological changes. This paper describes the methodology used to identify critical technologies for the regional economy of the North of Portugal under the project NORTINOV 2015. It involved three main steps: technology identification and study, in which a list of emerging technologies was implemented; refinement of emerging technologies, in which 90 technologies were identified and finally, classification and hierarchisation of technologies, in which 30 technologies were identified as critical for the crafting of regional innovation strategy. In this final step, a workshop involving major stakeholders of the three clusters under study played a major role.

Multiple Helix Ecosystems for Sustainable Competitiveness

“…Moreover, innovation systems can be used to analyze industries from a different perspective not dealt with by the old theories of technological change (Freeman 1987 ;Moreira et al 2007 ;Albuquerque et al 2012 ). Edquist ( 1997 ) put forward a more general defi nition proposing that an innovation system is the group of all important economic, social, political, organizational, institutional, and other factors that infl uence the development, diffusion and use of innovations.…”

“…Following this systemic approach, the links between businesses and other organizations are portrayed as the result of the technological interdependence of their knowledge (Chang and Chen 2004 ;Moreira et al 2007 ).…”

“…Emerging technologies are very important as they underpin the opening up of new markets and pave the way for increased competitiveness of the industry with signifi cant consequences for both public and private sectors (Koh and Wong 2005 ;Moreira et al 2007 ;Moreira et al 2008 ).…”

Sectoral Systems of Innovation and Nanotechnology: Challenges Ahead

“…Emerging technologies are very important as they underpin the opening up of new markets and pave the way for increased competitiveness of the industry with signifi cant consequences for both public and private sectors (Koh and Wong 2005 ;Moreira et al 2007 ;Moreira et al 2008 ).…”

Internationalization Approaches of the Automotive Innovation System - A Historical Perspective

“…Although the sectoral approach has been used to analyze innovation at a regional base (Moreira et al, 2007;2008), the evolution of a sectoral system of innovation has not been characterized. As a consequence, one of the main objectives of this chapter is to characterize the historical evolution of the automotive innovation system in Portugal following a sectoral perspective.…”