Portugal 2030 funds to be redirected towards AI and green transition

The Portuguese government plans to redirect more funding from the Portugal 2030 programme towards business innovation and decarbonisation, with artificial intelligence (AI) and clean energy at the centre of its strategy to strengthen the country’s competitiveness.

Economy and Territorial Cohesion Minister Manuel Castro Almeida told Parliament that the government would seek a reprogramming of the €23 billion Portugal 2030 funding framework to increase support for technological development and the green transition.

“These are two essential pillars of public support for the transformation of our businesses,” the minister said, adding that the aim is to improve companies’ technological capabilities while accelerating decarbonisation.

Castro Almeida said Portugal must invest more heavily in clean and competitive energy, noting that electricity accounts for less than 20% of the country’s overall energy consumption and that the economy remains heavily dependent on imported oil and gas.

To support this shift, the government has commissioned a Green Industrial Strategy, with a preliminary report expected by the end of August and final recommendations due before the end of the year. The strategy is being prepared by agencies including ADENE, IAPMEI, LNEG, AICEP and the Directorate-General for Economic Activities.

The minister also highlighted AI adoption as a priority, saying the government aims to train 100,000 workers in artificial intelligence. Pilot programmes are being prepared in the Leiria region, where around 80 employees per session will receive four-day AI training, alongside a separate 15-day programme for businesses.

He said innovation funding would also be supported through the IFIC (Financial Instrument for Innovation and Competitiveness), which received more than €1.16 billion originally allocated under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) to projects that could not be completed within the programme’s deadlines, including planned metro expansions.

Most of those funds have already been committed to projects supporting business innovation, he added.

Addressing the PRR, Castro Almeida said Portugal expected to use all available grant funding despite tight deadlines.

He argued that exempting certain expenditure from prior audit approval had prevented delays that could otherwise have forced the country to return “perhaps more than €1 billion” in EU funds.

The government expects to submit its tenth and final PRR payment request this autumn and has urged municipalities and other project promoters to complete works as far as possible by August 31.

However, Castro Almeida stressed that projects extending beyond that date would not necessarily require Portugal to repay EU funding.

“We expect to return no money at all,” he said. “We expect to fully execute the PRR grants.”

Source: ECO/XXV Governo

Inês Lopes

Newspaper editor at The Portugal Resident