R&I strategy for smart specialisation

The programming principles that ratify the Research and Innovation policy for the 2014-2020 period are described in the Partnership Agreement (Portugal 2020) adopted between Portugal and the European Commission. This agreement brings together investment under the European Structural and Investment Funds for Portugal's economic, social and territorial development in 2014-2020. These programming principles are aligned with Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, pursuing the Europe 2020 Strategy.

The Partnership Agreement allocates 25 billion euros to Portugal by 2020, with more than a billion euros earmarked for science.

The Research and Innovation Strategy for Intelligent Specialization is crucial for public funding of research and innovation in Portugal, as it is an ex ante condition of the Partnership Agreement for investment priorities in research and innovation. It identifies the major focuses around which investment should preferably be directed in the 2014-2020 period, maximizing the benefits of coordinated intervention in the different areas with which the National Research and Innovation System (SI&I) is interconnected. This is a multi-level strategy in which the National Research and Innovation Strategy (ENEI) comprises the national challenges and their alignment with the seven regional strategies.

Alignment takes place at the level of thematic priorities, policies (policy-mix) and in the governance model that comprises cross-participation from the regional to the national level and vice-versa