Braga Economy Week returns to Forum Braga from May 20th to 25th with the theme of Sustainable Innovation, ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) and Talent Management. The event once again focuses on sharing knowledge “Business development strategies” and providing a meeting space for Braga’s business community, connecting students, professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers and businesspeople.
Two weeks before the event, the extensive program with national and international activities, open to everyone, is fully publicized.
The big week that celebrates InvestBraga’s ten years opens its activities with the Braga Business Ambassadors Summit and the InvestBraga Strategic Council, moments reserved for their representatives.
The Economic Forum, taking place on May 21st, at 3:00 pm, will debate “Sustainable Innovation and ESG Strategy in Exporting Companies”. In the Grand Auditorium of Forum Braga, the president of the municipality and InvestBraga, Ricardo Rio, will present the most recent figures on Braga’s development and growth and the strategic projects that “have allowed the city to be recognized today at an international level as a ‘City of Future'”.
In a participation in English, Sheikh Mansoor Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, MBK Holding and Global Ecosystem Builder brings Qatar’s Sustainable Innovation to the table – “Qatar Sustainable Innovation”. Cluster Media’s simultaneous translation system. Lab, will allow everyone to participate in this session, translating from English to Portuguese, as well as the other way around.
The experts invited to the event are already known: Fernando Leite, vice-president of Grace – Empresas Responsáveis; Filipa Pantaleão, general secretary of BCSD Portugal; Jorge Portugal, General Director of COTEC Portugal; Luís Neves, president of GESI – Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative; and Pedro Ginjeira do Nascimento, general secretary of the BRT Association – Business Roundtable Portugal. Moderation will be in charge of Rui Neves, coordinator of Jornal de Negócios. “Sustainable Innovation and ESG Strategy in Exporting Companies” is the topic of discussion among experts, who will share information and present paths, strategies and ideas, based on the value of defining a program of good practices in companies, talent management processes and the value of Sustainable Innovation in increasing companies’ competitiveness.
This session is opened by Carlos Silva, executive administrator of InvestBraga and closed by João Rui Ferreira, Secretary of State for Economy.
Smart Talent Cities TM Summit, May 22
The morning of Wednesday, May 22nd has three conferences. “Smart Talent Cities TM Summit”, multilingual, opens with the presentation “Braga as a Talent Center, Smart City of Talents and Smart Bridges of Talents | Braga’s Urban Innovation Ecosystem, a Laboratory of New Innovations”, by Ricardo Rio.
Mansoor Bin Khalifa Al-Thani will speak on the Talent-based Economy, followed by “The Talent Imperative: Investing in talent for economic development”, a round table moderated by Luís Rodrigues, director of Startup Braga. Paola Vega Castillo, former Minister of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications of Costa Rica (in an online intervention); Clivia M. Sotomayor Torres, general director of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL); Mercedes Benz.Io; Lorena Diéguez, CEO of RubyNanomed and Rui Marques, general director of the Braga Commercial Association make up the multicultural panel that will bring international views to the city that has been at the forefront of exporting value-added goods and services based on innovation.
Gerri Burton, CEO Cité Global will bring the theme “Smart Talent CitiesTM Braga Lighthouse Project”, followed by “Digital and Green Talent: Sustainability, vocational education, skills optimization, certifications and credentials”, which will also be part of this knowledge sharing. Filipe Chaves, director of the Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave (IPCA) in Braga, will moderate the conversation between António Teixeira, director of the Escola Profissional de Esprominho; Ahmed Hujairy, from the Bahrain Technology Companies Society (online intervention); Carlos Ribas, Bosch representative in Portugal; Bou Diarra, CEO of Ibriz, Senegal; and Nermeen Negm, Masdar City marketing director (online intervention).
The Smart Talent Cities conference will also explore the theme “Sports Innovation Center: Diplomacy of talent and sport: Cognitive Performance”, by SC Braga Hub and Qatar Sports Tech and “Global Talent Flows”, with the participation of Patrizia Pozzo , from Rizhome Cities, Manuel Araújo, president of Quelimane, Mozambique; Laura Healy, migration specialist at UNICEF (in an online intervention); Andreia Cabral Dias, commercial manager at Nestlé; Wassim Salim Kaddoura, from the United Arab Emirates; Jean Van Zyl, National Space Agency of South Africa (in an online intervention) and moderated by João Medeiros, representative of the Municipality of Braga.
On the same morning, the conference on International Insecurity and Economy, hosted by the School of Executives of the University of Minho (UMinho Exec), will talk about Geopolitics and Security, by Professor Stefan Wolff, and on Energy Transition, by Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Rodrigues. Furthermore, Design Commit’24 will continue with the sessions of the 1st International Conference on Design and Industry, which takes place from the 20th to the 22nd of May. This first edition of the Design Commit, promoted by the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, in partnership with the School of Design of the Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, the Department of Communication and Art of the University of Aveiro, the School of Architecture, Art and Design from the University of Minho and the Design and Technology Group of the Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory (Lab2PT), among other partners, will be an in-person international event, consisting of a wide variety of plenary sessions, bringing together researchers, academics , designers, rapidly expanding technological companies, emerging companies, business associations and political decision-makers, with the aim of fostering and actively developing joint reflection, in a transdisciplinary scientific exchange, that enhances innovation through Design and Industry for a better future with a strategic vision.
In this initiative, fields will also be proposed that will stimulate responses to the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, paving the way to achieving the objectives of the 2030 agendas. DESIGN COMMIT 2024 is an initiative that will offer recent master’s degree graduates and doctoral students a session dedicated to debate and networking, to be held during the conference, which provides an opportunity for emerging professionals and researchers to discuss their work and receive feedback from colleagues and senior researchers. It will promote and offer the opportunity for the presentation and publication of a series of high-quality complete research articles, reviewed by experts, and will organize parallel and presentation sessions, having already received applications for more than 150 papers, under the theme “Design for different futures”, in addition to economic growth. These events are restricted to registered participants, except for the Conference on Design and Industry, which will take place on May 22nd, at 2:30 pm, in the Grand Auditorium of Forum Braga. This event will be open to the public and will be attended by several international experts.
Also during the afternoon, the theme “Artificial Intelligence and Parametric Modeling for Sustainable Industrial Construction” will be promoted by IBS – Institute of Science And Innovation for Bio-Sustainability, and ExpoBiotec’24 brings From Lab to Market and Biotech Flash Talks + Biotech Meetings by Startup Braga, activities included in Braga Biotechnology Week.
From 17:00, UMinho Exec presents the Master Class – School of CEOs: Specialized training for executive directors at the beginning of their careers.
Artificial Intelligence in Business, May 24
Also noteworthy, on the afternoon of May 24th, the conference “Artificial Intelligence in Business” will give voice to several experts. The State of the Art of Artificial Intelligence will be presented by Paulo Novais, coordinator of LASI – Associated Laboratory of Intelligent Systems. José Machado, director of Centro Algoritmi, will bring his vision on Applied AI Research in Industry; “Copilot – The Future of Smart Work” is the theme explored by Microsoft; Pedro Freitas, assistant professor at the Faculty of Law of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, will add the risks associated with AI; and the testimony of Neadvance, by Teresa Martins, CEO, will frame AI in Industry, in a debate moderated by Carlos Vaz, administrator of Incentea.
This session is opened by Daniel Vilaça, president of the Braga Business Association, and closed by Ricardo Rio.
Business Show, from May 23rd to 25th
The Business Exhibition, “From Braga to the World”, taking place from the 23rd to the 25th of May, will also be one of the highlights of this celebratory week. A space where the main companies present in Braga will present to visitors the areas of expertise in which they stand out and which allow them to work for the most demanding markets internationally. From industry to services, the professionals of tomorrow will be able to get to know large growing companies in Braga, multinationals and reference companies in their sectors at an international level, and who work in the most specialized areas, for which they create value and hire professionals each increasingly qualified. In this space, throughout the duration of this exhibition, several visits are expected from higher schools, professionals and other centers of knowledge and innovation in Braga and the region. The exhibition stage will feature a constant stream of initiatives, organized by partner entities and companies present at the Business Exhibition, in a model of talks, conferences and workshops.
“Economy Week is not only a celebration of our robust business fabric, but also a window to the future, highlighting how Braga is leading the way in technology and innovation”, stated Carlos Silva.
With a diverse program, Braga Economy Week promises not only to encourage dialogue between business leaders and experts, but also to inspire society in general to participate more actively in economic and technological development.
The Business Exhibition will also host the “Qualifica-te Braga24” initiative – Education, Training and Employment Exhibition, promoted by the Municipality of Braga. An event that seeks to present, especially to students from schools and groups in the municipality, career and employment opportunities, with an objective that also aims to bring together in the same space all the existing training offer, so that students in the 9th and 12th years can take conscious decisions that promote personal and professional success.
This event is promoted by InvestBraga, in collaboration with the Municipality of Braga.
Discover the entire program here.
