BUSINESS DISRUPTER
A key challenge going forward will be getting the 26% of Portuguese who do not use the internet connected to the digital world.
BIOGRAPHY
Rogério Carapuça has been President of APDC since January 2013 and is an administrator of several companies in the Novabase group. His professional career has always been linked to ICT. He was an assistant and professor at IST from 1981 to 1994. At Novabase, he was an administrator since 1994, Chairman of the Board of Directors between 1998 and 2015, and from 1998 to 2009 he accumulated the functions of Chairman of the Board and CEO. He has a degree in electrical engineering and a master’s and PhD in electrical and computer engineering from IST.To what extent can ICT boost the competitiveness and modernization of the Portuguese economy?
The IT and ICT sectors are revolutionizing and disrupting every industry. The question is not if ICT will disrupt business, but when and how much it will change some particulars of the market. For example, in the last seven to eight years the media and entertainment sector in Portugal lost 40% of its advertising revenues. Digitization is basically a revolution; if we talk solely about technology-related transformations, we have had the agricultural, industrial, and now digital revolution. The difference is that the digital revolution transforms business and society in a much shorter timeframe than previous revolutions, which took hundreds of years. The first part of the digital revolution was the appearance of computers that could take over support functions for businesses. However, the real revolution started in the last 20 years when businesses were completely transformed due to the exponential growth of several variables brought about since 1958. If we applied this same rate of exponential technology growth to, for example, the automotive industry, a car that could travel at a maximum of 60mph in 1958 would reach Mars in a matter of seconds today. Things that were impossible 20 or 30 years ago are now easy as a result of the computing power to do them.
What impact did opening up APDC's membership to other sectors of the economy beyond media and technology companies have on its membership base and activities?
APDC could not close itself off from other sectors because IT and communications technology is transforming these areas as well. It is extremely important for other players and sectors to talk with us. In addition, most of our members' clients are in other sectors, not just in ICT and media. The response we have had is extremely interesting. At our last congress in 2017, half the delegates and companies were from our sector while the other half were from others. This is a huge transformation for us. Now, we plan to give associate status to companies in other sectors that want to network with our members.
What is the importance and objectives of APDC's annual Digital Business Congress?
This is an annual event with around 2,000 participants, typically high-level decision makers from a range of sectors. It is a crucial event where we discuss and review trends and the scope of the transformation taking place because of IT. We also have an exposition part to the conference where companies have a presence, including IT and ICT start-ups. We have an entrepreneurship chapter within APDC as a channel for communicating with these start-ups. In turn, start-ups use such events to look for investors and to keep up with developments in their field. They also look to APDC as a connection to corporations through specialized events.
Can you tell us more about APDC's initiatives to help people compete in this new digital environment?
Skills are critical for this new environment, especially digital skills, which is why we are cooperating with the Portuguese government on its National Digital Competences Initiative (INCoDe.2030). This is a government program to empower Portugal with more IT knowledge and capacity across the entire population. The challenge for Portugal is not so much on the offer of IT services, since we already have a great network and many IT services; the problem is that usage is still low. Only around 60% of Portuguese people use the internet daily, and 26% do not use the internet at all. This 26% either lack the necessary IT skills or money to buy basic IT equipment. In the case of skills, we have to rectify this limitation to ensure we not only have enough trained personnel in the country for IT-related jobs, but also for the population at large. I am currently the Chairman of the Forum for INCoDe.2030. Our mission is to create instruments for evaluation and give visibility to this initiative on an annual basis. We held the first conference in 2017 when it was launched to publicize the program and explain its aims. Each year the forum analyzes what INCoDe.2030 has achieved that year. The program also has an Executive Coordinator appointed by the Minister of Science. Regarding APDC's Digital Academy, our associates needed a mechanism to train their own people, and in 2017 we prepared the courses and are now starting to sell them. These include short crash courses for executives who want to understand concepts like artificial intelligence. The other courses are for training company personnel. These programs are more structured and last around 600 hours.
BUSINESS DISRUPTER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Focus: Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries
Making an Impact
Established in 1996, the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP) is a mechanism geared at linking and sharing the experience of Lusophone countries. Besides Portugal, this includes Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
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Don’t Mind the Disruption
Having won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, Lisbon hosted the 2018 event. The relevance? Well, the contest began back in 1956 as a showcase not only of song, but of then-nascent live television broadcast technology. Today, Portugal is on the cutting edge of new technological developments.
read articleInterview
João Pedro Soeiro de Matos Fernandes , Minister , Environment and Energy Transition
The Ministry for the Environment and Energy Transition is focusing on decarbonizing the economy, valuing the territory and its habitats, and striving for a more circular use of the country's resources.
read articleInterview
António Braz Costa , General Manager, Portuguese Technological Centre for the Textile & Clothing Industries (CITEVE)
CITEVE has transformed the industry by promoting value addition, adopting the latest technologies, and ensuring the highest standards of environmental sustainability.
read articleFocus: New airport
Right Time to Seize Missed Opportunities
Portugal has seen its air traffic figures increase by as much as 80% in the last five years. As a result, its transportation infrastructure, and Lisbon's airport in particular, cannot cope with the rising numbers. A new airport project that will turn a military base into a commercial airport is now under discussion to bring much-needed relief to air traffic.
read articleInterview
Germano de Sousa , President, Grupo Germano de Sousa
Grupo Germano de Sousa's success can best be summed up by its understanding that science and medicine only really progress when technological development is combined with a deeper respect for human values and professional ethics.
read articleInterview
Isabel Capeloa Gil , Rector, Universidade Católica
Having pioneered the introduction of multiple subject areas to Portugal's tertiary education scene, Universidade Católica is aspiring to establish the country's first private medical school and introduce cutting-edge digital transformation.
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Carlos Guillén Gestoso , President, Escola Universitária de Ciências Empresariais, Saúde, Tecnologias e Engenharia & President, Atlantica University
Atlantica University differentiates through its company-university model and an MBA program in partnership with the University of California, Berkley, among other initiatives, to produce practical theoreticians.
read articleFocus: Public teaching staff
An Age-old Problem
Over a decade of austerity measures combined with an ageing population have seen the average age of the Portuguese public teaching staff progressively climb to one of the highest in the OECD. With frozen salaries, an extended retirement age, and precarious working conditions, today the sector faces one of its biggest challenge yet.
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Pedro Queiroz , General Manager, Federation of the Portuguese Agri-Food Industry (FIPA)
Portugal's economic recovery has seen its F&B sector emerge with annual turnovers of EUR16 billion, thanks to FIPA's undeterred focus on stable policies, excellent nutrition standards, and sustainability.
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