Sustainable Innovation across Key Sectors and Societal Challenge 5: Insights from and for Portugal

The European Union (EU) targets growth based on smart, sustainable and inclusive economies, which can be promoted through profound changes in the European economic sectors largely spurred by the increasing importance and penetration of ICT throughout the European societies. Opportunities for industrial sectors to renew themselves are largely provided by sustainable innovations. This policy brief looks at the sectoral relevance of the SI initiatives collected in the CASIPEDIA against the challenges of climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials. The policy brief discusses how key policy developments at the national level are related to SI and connects the sectoral analysis on SC5 with policy developments at the national level. The strong alignment of the objectives for the Portuguese Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 with the Europe 2020 Strategy is visible in the objectives defined by the Government, which are: Growth based on knowledge and innovation – with priorities in the areas of Innovation, Education and Digital Society; An inclusive society with high employability – with priorities in Employment, Skills and Combating Poverty; Green growth: a competitive and sustainable economy - with priorities in Combating Climate Change, Clean and Efficient Energy and Competitiveness. Based on CASI evidence, Portuguese research on energy policy development merits attention in the context of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promote the use of renewable energy and decrease dependence on foreign energy.