Portuguese Science Summit Innovation 2026 Records 2,350 Registrations

The Portuguese Science Summit Innovation 2026 took place on July 15 and 16 at the Lisbon Congress Center and drew a total of 2,350 registrations. This was a very significant turnout for this first major event organized by the Agency for Research and Innovation (AI²), which featured a total of six plenary sessions and 20 parallel sessions, and brought together the entire scientific and business ecosystem to discuss the future of science and innovation in Portugal.

Under the theme “Preparing for the Future,” the conference provided a forum for sharing ideas that brought together a wide range of researchers, higher education institutions, companies, entrepreneurs, public policymakers, and civil society. This diversity of participants was essential to the event’s success, contributing to the creation of greater knowledge and value, and placing science and innovation at the center of the country’s cultural, social, and economic development.

A highlight of the plenary sessions was the participation of Ekaterina Zaharieva, the European Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation, who shared relevant information at the meeting about the new European Framework—FP10 and the European Competitiveness Fund.

The 20 parallel sessions were dedicated to six broad areas: Digital, Health, Environment and Territory, Industry and Energy, Society, and the Science and Innovation Ecosystem. These reflected the community’s very significant engagement with this challenge presented by AI², with an initial submission of 206 proposals and the participation of more than 1,200 individuals and approximately 1,000 different organizations. These parallel sessions also involved 25 moderators and rapporteurs.

schedule also included two additional parallel sessions: one organized by PLANAPP, dedicated to emerging technologies, and another by Agência Ciência Viva, which gave the floor to young researchers from across the country, as well as a demonstration of the Automated Multimodal Language Assistant with Artificial Intelligence (AMALIA), the first open-source large language model (LLM) developed specifically for the Portuguese language as spoken in Portugal and for Portuguese culture.

The Portuguese Science Summit Innovation was thus an important opportunity to discuss the future of research and innovation, in a space for reflection and collaborative creation that brought together the scientific community, the business sector, and European partners. The plenary sessions were recorded and are available for viewing on AI²’s YouTube channel. A photo gallery and a video summary of the event will also be available soon on the Portuguese Science Summit Innovation 2026 website.