Did you know that the pre-existence of domestic production capabilities in times of crisis, regardless of its size, can be crucial in situations involving national shortages of safety-critical products? This research explores the importance of domestic industrial capabilities during crises through a comparative case study to the sudden spike in demand for the manufacture of mechanical ventilators brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Did you know that between 1995 and 2017 the Portuguese economy went through 5 different phases of economic development and material use? And that there was a progressive increase in efforts towards sustainable growth? In this research brief, we analysed a study developed by Sónia Cunha and Paulo Ferrão on the socioeconomic metabolism of Portuguese economy between 1995 and 2017.