Lisbon, July 21, 2025 (Lusa) - The executive director of Axians Portugal said in an interview with Lusa that he would like to see strong investment in innovation, articulated between companies, the state and universities in the Portuguese market, which would represent "a very important accelerator".
"I would like to see strong investment in innovation, articulated between companies, the state and universities, with a practical sense, because that's what makes things happen," says Pedro Faustino, when asked to share what he would like to see happen in Portugal shortly.
As a manager, "I always have to put the pragmatism of things first," he says, joking that artificial intelligence (AI) "has already been there, it's gone fast".
In other words, "we don't have much time for endless reflection; we have to experiment. And therefore a pragmatic articulation between these three stakeholders that allows us to experiment, knowing that we will experiment and fail and have to experiment again," he continues.
Then, "it has to be quick, because if it's not quick, it's over," he told Lusa.
"I'd love to see this effort happen in Portugal, practically," he said.
Especially because "if we all manage to have a practical and urgent sense, I think that would be a very important accelerator," emphasises Pedro Faustino.
Concerning AI, he emphasises that "it's very transversal to all sectors of the economy and society, and from the point of view of the value chain, it's very complex".
You can't have AI without data, without data centres, and without communications or cybersecurity.
Therefore, "I would see it as good, useful and important for there to be a concentration of critical mass and for there to be strategic thinking about artificial intelligence and the whole technological chain" behind it, he says, when asked if there should be a specific agency or organisation.
"That's why I asked him if we were talking about an agency for artificial intelligence or for digital," because "I wouldn't separate the two," he said.
On 1 July, the Secretary of State for Digitalisation announced that the digital agency, whose name is yet to be confirmed, would proceed.
"Artificial intelligence is digital and digital is artificial intelligence; there is no one without the other," says Pedro Faustino.
Now, "having an agency in Portugal that looks strategically at these issues seems very interesting to me," he adds.
Whether this agency should be the government's instrument to define what the country has to do centrally, "I think that's more difficult," he says.
"I don't think it makes sense to have an agency that executes everything. Now, yes, to aggregate thought and to give strategic guidance and to gather opinions, I think it's very useful," he adds.
He believes that this "is very important, precisely because Europe urgently needs to build itself up as a player, a leader in technological innovation in these areas" and, "if there is someone to look at all this potential and facilitate it, fantastic," he adds.
Axians is a Vinci Energies brand and has been present in Portugal for eight years, operating in areas such as cloud, data centres, AI consultancy, cybersecurity, data analytics, among others.
The manager is optimistic about the business in Portugal, which is growing above the market at a steady pace.
The aggregate rate of the Portuguese market over the last five years is around 4%.
Axians offers solutions ranging from contactless ticketing to more integrated mobility models, which are implemented in seven operators across the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
ALU // CSJ
Lusa/Fim
