Only 13 of the 64 finalists in the largest competition in European fund history, the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) Business Innovation Program, received an “unfavorable” result in the evaluation published at the end of this report. Friday by the Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (IAPMEI).

This means that 51 large business consortiums – five times the number of the 10 originally envisaged in the PDP – should receive the support of the “European bazooka”.

In total, he proposes to invest about 7.6 billion euros to bring ultra-innovative products and services to the market by 2026.

Who are the biggest winners?

About half of these investments are being offered by the ten largest business consortiums, led by Petrogal for batteries (914 million euros), Petrogal for hydrogen (579 million euros), Prio Bio (492 million euros), Efacec Energia (343 million euros). ), Efacec Engenharia e Sistemas (€308m), Nos Comunicações (€259m), Polisport Plásticos (€257m), DST Solar (€239m), Geo Sat (€224m) or Domingos da Silva Teixeira (215 million euros).

The largest of the business consortia, led by Petrogal, has offered to invest 914 million euros in building a battery value chain from the ground up to make Portugal the world’s fifth largest lithium producer and the first country in Europe to operate a refinery. processing of this mineral.

Sines is home to a second €579 million consortium, also led by Petrogal, to produce green hydrogen and decarbonize vehicles.

A highlight for the DST Group, which is involved in four major consortiums.

On the one hand, DST Solar approved its €239 million proposal to create a “new technology ecosystem” in the field of batteries. Domingos da Silva Teixeira’s proposal of 215 million euros has been approved for a “deep change” in the production profile of the modular construction sector, this business group.

This DST group is also in the process of acquiring Efacec, the leader of two even larger consortiums: the energy transition alliance Efacec Energia (€343 million) and the Efacec Engenharia e Sistemas program (€308 million) for new value. circuit in the area of ​​green electric fuel.

And who failed?

Only 13 out of 64 finalists were rated “unsatisfactory”.

At stake are, for example, consortiums led by SP Televisão for the development and reindustrialization of cultural, creative and audiovisual activities in Portugal; Immunethep for the production of vaccines; Mota-Engil for the reindustrialization of the construction sector; Casais for sustainable industrial construction; or Continental Advanced Antenna for the development of intelligent green mobile products and systems.

Consortiums led by Decsis II Iberia, TMAD, Circlemolecule, Alvistex, Acuinova, Mediceus, Void Software or Clube da Maçã for fruit growing in the western region have also not achieved a positive result.

The economic and financial viability of the initiators and projects was one of the eight evaluation criteria for this PRR Business Innovation Agenda Competition.

Other criteria were: the degree of innovation or differentiation; impact on the competitiveness of business and changing the profile of the country’s industrial specialization; potential impact on the project development region; opportunity to use investments; economic potential for innovation and scalability; the project’s contribution to carbon neutrality and energy sustainability; and the quality of the consortium in terms of the competencies of the promoters in relation to the objectives of the project and the management model of the consortium.

IAPMEI coordinates the activities of the Commission for the Coordination of the Agenda (CCA), which also includes government agencies for innovation (ANI), investment and foreign trade (AICEP), Compete 2020 and Science and Technology Foundation (FCT).

An independent jury, chaired by English expert John O’Reilly, judged the innovative nature of the applications and their strategic importance for changing the profile of a manufacturing specialization or for transforming the relevant chains of new products and services that will be available on the market. .

the government promised

The Agenda for Business Innovation competition launched last summer and awarded just 930 million euros to support a dozen consortiums. However, in April, Prime Minister António Costa announced the government’s intention to strengthen these European funds for companies.

Economy Minister António Costa Silva later told Expresso, which expects to mobilize about four billion euros to support all worthy candidates.

“The country must invest its resources in the Agenda. This is the most damaging PRR measure to change the country’s manufacturing profile, based on technological innovation rather than low wages. This is an absolutely transformative project that can use all the best that has been done in the country to export 53% of GDP by 2030, invest 3% of GDP in R&D and reduce CO2 emissions by 55%,” the Minister of Economy justifies. Antonio Costa Silva.