EMÍDIO SOUSA OPENS BIZFEIRA TARGETING MORE QUALIFIED AND BETTER PAID JOBS

The sixth edition of the forum thought about the future of companies and professionals in the post-Covid-19 era

"Reinvention, The Path of Companies" was the motto for the 2020 edition, via streaming, of the Bizfeira Forum. On October 22, remarkable speakers gathered in panel discussions, with inspiring presentations, workshops and remote collaborative sessions, in order to discuss the future of companies and professionals in the post-Covid-19 era.

Due to the current pandemic crisis, companies and professionals will have to reinvent themselves to be successful in this new job market. How can this reinvention be done? What are the main areas of opportunity? Sustainability, Industry 4.0 and Innovation, Gig Economy, Skilling, Upsildlling and Reskilling will be areas where the "Reinvention" will surely pass.

In this context, the opening of the sixth edition of the Bizfeira Forum was carried out by the Mayor, Emídio Sousa, who referred that this year, given the Covid-19 pandemic, it is "an opportune moment" for reinvention. "The pandemic brought difficulties for everyone. Many didn’t know what to do, but the crisis - as the history of the economy shows us - also brings many opportunities", pointed out the Mayor. "Each of us has to think about his/her area of activity and business and see what he/she can do, namely to define a strategic path for his/her company and his/her organization", underlined the Mayor of Santa Maria da Feira.

After enumerating a set of dynamics carried out in the municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, the Mayor also admitted that, frequently, the Northern region and the Municipality are accused of having an economy based on "low wages" and the productivity of local companies being "much lower" compared to European companies. "It is true, but this is essentially due to the lack of automation and the technology to be incorporated into the production processes. I think that here is a new opportunity for all of us - digitization, sustainable development, qualified work and the consequent satisfaction of people at their workplace", he said.

Emídio Sousa also launched a new challenge for Santa Maria da Feira, which is based on the maxim "Qualified employment, better paid salary". "Bizfeira, once again, is going to be a space for debate. We have to alert Portugal to the problem of excessive bureaucracy and this excessive presence of the State in a way that is often murderous for companies," said the Mayor while reinforcing the importance of the energy and sustainable transition of the industrial sector.

Therefore, reindustrialization was the central topic of the morning's debate, moderated by the economic journalist, Camilo Lourenço. The panel "Reindustrialize Portugal with the Tools of the Future" was attended by Emídio Sousa, Mayor of Santa Maria da Feira, João Menezes, Secretary-General of BCDS Portugal - Business Council for Sustainable Development, and Pedro Braz Teixeira, director of the Studies Office of the Forum for Competitiveness, as speakers. The director general of APICCAPS, João Maia, and the president of APCOR, João Rui Ferreira, fill in the Panel "Reindustrialize – The Path of Companies". The third Panel, "Reindustrialize – The Perspective of Companies", counted on with Adérito Ferreira, CEO Readiness IT, and Fernando Fernandes de Sousa, CEI administrator. Also in the morning, Keynotes "The Imperative of Intelligent Growth", with Rui Coutinho, from Porto Business School, and "A Systemic Approach to Sustainability", by Leyla Acaraglu, industrial designer, were scheduled.

In the afternoon, starting at 2 pm, the Bizfeira Forum diversified the topics in several formats, such as the presentation of the main financial instruments for supporting companies; legal obligations and solutions that positively contribute to the well-being of people, companies and the planet and also a set of "talks" and collaborative sessions.