Questioned about the study’s key findings, Filipe Grilo, the scientific coordinator of the research conducted by ACEPI and GoingNext in collaboration with the Porto Business School, emphasized that the study “suggests that digitalization has contributed to a 13% increase in Portuguese GDP, 19% in employment, and 13% in wages.”
According to the Porto Business School professor, “this impact goes far beyond technology companies: it encompasses all sectors that incorporate digital tools in their operations,” from industry to retail, agriculture, logistics, or tourism.
Overall, “the digital sector helps sustain about 3 million jobs, generates 90 billion euros in gross added value, and contributes 30 billion in tax revenue.”
For instance, the technology core — the so-called ‘pure digital sector’ — “already represents 500,000 jobs and 17 billion euros in added value, with a multiplier effect of 2.7 on the Portuguese economy: for every euro generated, almost triple is created in total economic value,” he continued.
“These numbers clearly show that digital is not just a sector, but a cross-cutting engine of modernization and structural growth, with direct and indirect impact across the entire economy,” said Filipe Grilo.
Portugal “is no longer structurally behind in terms of access to technology, we have networks, software, infrastructures,” now the challenge is “using digital intelligently to transform business models, internal processes, and the way value is created,” the professor stated.
“And that’s where there’s still a structural block in Portugal — technology is often adopted but not well integrated, it stays on the surface,” and this block “is linked to a deeper problem: a chronic deficit of management quality, reflected in the difficulty aligning people, processes, and technology consistently,” Filipe Grilo pointed out.
Digital transformation “requires leadership with vision, execution capability, and clear metrics — and this is not solved with software, it is addressed through organizational competence,” he highlighted, noting that “this is where institutions like the Porto Business School aim to intervene, helping companies and managers develop the maturity necessary for digital to produce real results — not just in technological indicators, but especially in productivity, competitiveness, and value creation.”
Regarding the role of artificial intelligence (AI), Gabriel Coimbra, a partner at GoingNext, noted that AI is “today the main driver of productivity and economic disruption in Portugal, acting as a catalyst for digital transformation in practically all sectors.”
The study identifies that AI can be applied in three axes: automation and operational efficiency; value creation and new business models; and structural transformation of the public sector, he listed.
More than three-quarters (77%) of companies using AI “already report concrete productivity gains, mainly through the automation of repetitive tasks, data analysis, and improved customer service. But much more is needed, especially in value creation and new business models,” he added.
On the other hand, “AI enables the development of data-based products and services, real-time personalization, and ‘as-a-service’ solutions, reinforcing national competitiveness, which is where we are most behind,” noted Gabriel Coimbra.
“The study concludes that Portugal has strong conditions to lead the new phase of digital innovation, with robust infrastructures, qualified talent, and an increasingly prepared business ecosystem to integrate AI into its production processes, healthcare, education, and public administration, but it is necessary to accelerate even more the adoption and value creation in the short and medium term,” concluded the official.
