TECHNOLOGIES FROM PORTUGAL
PRODUTECH R3 Innovation Pact is a strategic and integrated initiative, gathering a set of programs aimed at (1) transforming industry, developing and transferring R&D and transforming it into new products and services (namely Manufacturing Technologies), enabling and supporting companies in this sector in their associated innovation processes, but also supporting companies in user sectors to adopt and endogenize these new technologies in their production systems, contributing to competitiveness, sustainability and resilience; (2) qualifying Industry for Resilience, Growth and Innovation; (3) training Professional Education in Innovative Manufacturing Technologies, thus supporting the ambitious transformation; (4) internationalizing national companies; and (5) promoting the Pact and its outcomes.
The pact corresponds to a critical mass of 108 organizations from 17 industrial sectors: 45 Manufacturing Technology suppliers; 37 user companies; and 26 research and technology associations and organizations. PRODUTECH R3’s main goal is to develop, test, and implement 85 new Manufacturing Technologies within an ecosystem of innovation. Likewise, PRODUTECH R3 strives for the development of a highly diverse set of innovative, marketdriven solutions with global reach and cross-sector applicability in the manufacturing industry. These include smart factories, efficient and flexible production systems with AI integration, intelligent interoperable robotic and digitalisation solutions, new eco-design and product circularity technologies, as well as technological solutions for the decarbonisation of the manufacturing industry, among others.
PRODUTECH R3 is an ambitious agenda that has direct impacts on the companies within the consortium— namely on those that belong to the manufacturing technology sector in the various manufacturing industries that use the developed technologies. Additionally, as put by the pact’s director, Miguel Gil Mata, PRODUTECH R3 is expected to «have a spillover effect on the wider manufacturing industry through the dissemination of results, demonstrations, and the adoption of developed solutions by other companies». At PRODUTECH R3, we know that implementing this agenda comes with various challenges, starting with its ambition.
The consortium partners have shown remarkable resilience, standing firm against these difficulties, and the project has been progressing at a steady pace, looking for international opportunities. In this setting, we are organising interventions, dissemination actions, and displays outcomes at various trade fairs in these markets, like the Hannover Messe 2025.
With this agenda, the sector has taken a path from which there is no turning back. Companies are looking towards the future and are fully aligned with our strategy. We deeply believe that the PRODUTECH R3 Agenda will have a significant impact on the introduction of new manufacturing technologies into the market on the sector’s turnover, employment, and, most importantly, on added value and exports. As a cluster, our mission is to create a network connecting all players in the manufacturing technologies ecosystem. This ecosystem — composed of companies, universities, technology centres, innovation hubs, and business associations—that fosters a virtuous cycle, driving sustainable progress in innovation and technology.
Soon, we will be meeting in Hannover for the Hannover Messe 2025, which presents the perfect opportunity to showcase some of the technologies being developed within the scope of our agenda. There is no better scenario than this international gathering. We are proud to once again be part of the most important international platform and hotspot for industrial transformation—and we cannot wait to show what the Portuguese industry has been working on.
