ANI reúne com parceiros dos Açores e da Madeira

The National Innovation Agency (ANI) has held the fifth local stakeholder group meeting in Portugal, on May 31, 2021. This meeting took place online and focused on the use of financial instruments in the ultraperipheral regions in Portugal, gathering new stakeholders from Madeira and Azores.

Alexandre Almeida, Project Manager, presented an of the project and the activities developed so far, including the state of the art regarding the Action Plan. ANI also shared with the national stakeholders the lessons learned and good practices shared in the exchange of experiences.

Professor Mário Rui Silva and Ana Rola from Sigma Team Consulting have presented to the stakeholders the results of a study commissioned by ANI about the use of financial instruments in the ultraperipheral regions in Portugal. This study, and the discussion that followed, highlighted several challenges of the adoption of these instruments specific to the context of regions with insularity constraints, such as the lack of critical mass and developing regional innovation systems that leads to gaps in the institutional support to startup firms, as well as market failures in the offer of equity-type instruments.

A debate followed, led by Arnaldo Machado (NONAGON – São Miguel S&T Park, Azores), Duarte Pimentel (TERINOV – Terceira S&T Park, Azores), Duarte Freitas (IDE, IP-RAM - Instituto de Desenvolvimento Empresarial, Madeira) and Carlos Soares Lopes (Startup Madeira). This meeting was attended by representatives of the National Innovation Agency (ANI), the ROPs of Madeira and Azores and other regional policymaking organizations, as well as university TTOs, science and technology parks and business incubators, and firms.

Texto e foto: ANI