The Minister of National Defence, Nuno Melo, is one of the guest speakers at the 6th Famalicão Made IN Economic Forum, which will take place on 29 April, starting at 2.00 pm, at the Casa das Artes in Vila Nova de Famalicão, under the theme “The Best Defence is Innovation”.
The event, organised by the Municipality of Famalicão and with the weekly newspaper Expresso as media partner, will bring together business leaders, research centres, public decision-makers and investors to discuss how to consolidate robust technological ecosystems, accelerate knowledge transfer and create conditions for innovative companies to scale critical solutions for global markets, as well as to share business opportunities in the defence sector. This is a particularly timely theme in a context of growing demands and geopolitical instability, reinforced by the fact that the event is being held in the municipality of Famalicão, a region with strong industrial and innovation dynamics.
The Forum will be opened at 14h30 by the mayor, Mário Passos, and the Minister of National Defence, Nuno Melo, followed by Paulo Portas, who will speak on “Europe 2030: defence, innovation and industry for competitive economic sovereignty”.
The first panel is dedicated to the theme “Competitiveness and Innovation in Industry” and will feature presentations by José Rui Felizardo, CEO of CEIIA – Centre for Engineering and Development, Pedro Petiz, Director of Strategic Development at the TEKEVER business group, and Braz-Costa, Director-General of CITEVE and President of CeNTI. Before the closing session, scheduled for 5.00 pm, there will also be a second round table on “Business Opportunities in Defence”, with contributions from Ricardo Pinheiro Alves, President of IDD Portugal Defense, António Baptista, Director-General of Armaments and Defence Assets at the Ministry of National Defence, and Fernando Cunha, CEO of Beyond Composite.
Both round tables will be moderated by Ricardo Costa, a journalist with SIC Notícias and Expresso. The event will be presented by SIC journalist Cristina Freitas.
Contributing to the strengthening of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base, in line with the European Union’s priorities, particularly in terms of innovation, reindustrialisation and dual-use products, whilst promoting Europe’s strategic autonomy, competitiveness and resilience, is one of the main objectives of this edition of the Economic Forum.
Registration is now open at www.famalicaomadein.pt.
