Theme 1. Relationships between large corporations, local government, and startups

The first theme was the relationships between large corporations and local government on one side and startups on the other, and the ways these are used to incentivise and promote innovation. We saw several models of this across the visits.

• At Galp, we saw what the energy sector is doing to support and stimulate innovation across its five business sectors, including open calls that invite startups to compete to solve real problems.
• At Hospital da Luz, Nuno explained how they have created a test bed for startups and SMEs.
• At the Unicorn Factory, we heard how they collaborate with large corporations, backed by the City of Lisbon, to connect those corporations with startups. Hospital da Luz is also one such partner.

Theme 2. AI, agents, and the complexities and constraints for startups and SMEs

The second theme was artificial intelligence and agents, and the particular complexities and constraints these create for startups and SMEs.

• Galp and Hospital da Luz both operate in highly regulated industries, where the EU AI Act is often seen as a deterrent to innovation, and the surrounding regulation is also very complex. There is often a gap between the various regulations (eg. GDPR, environmental regulations, healthcare regulations) and the AI Act which has to be understood and bridged to understand how to make AI systems compliant. Human and technical resources are problematic for startups and SMEs in this regard.
• At Build Up Labs, we saw how an increasingly agentic world introduces new security threats, especially where these systems have access to the Internet, and why this is especially problematic in highly regulated industries.

Theme 3. Education and innovation for AI

The third theme was education and innovation in the context of AI, and how an entrepreneurial mindset is built and how knowledge moves between the university and the business world.

• Even on day 1, we had a discussion around what our universities are doing in terms of policy development around AI use across the student body and the faculty.
• The Unicorn Factory showed us how they run programmes to develop an entrepreneurial mindset from primary school all the way through to higher education.
• The panel discussion took up knowledge transfer between higher education and the business world, including the idea of the ivory tower and how to move beyond it. Research needs to be relevant to the real world issues faced by business and there needs to be strong collaboration with business leaders and better dissemination of the work being done in academia.

Two subthemes

Alongside the three main themes, two further subthemes ran throughout the two days.

• Funding.
• Sustainability.

Looking ahead

One reflection for the next event is to bring members of the public and policy makers into the discussion, so that those perspectives are represented directly in the conversation.