How can Portugal and Europe attract and retain young researchers? 03/04/2025

On March 29 Manuel Heitor spoke at TedX Porto 2025. In his short speech, Heitor began by saying that "Portugal in particular and Europe in general today have a unique opportunity to attract and retain young people from all over the world and to create more and better jobs for the next generations."

According to data collected by the EU over the last 20 years, Portugal today has a positive balance in the flow of researchers, the result of decades of investment and ensuring international reputation and credibility. The country has managed to attract young and talented people and the youngest cities and regions are those with the largest influxes of immigrants. But over the last 20 years this has not been the case, and Europe has lost thousands of young people who have emigrated to the US.

"How can Europe become attractive to young people?" asked Manuel Heitor. "The solution," he said, "is to invest in new ideas, which means more science and technology". European funding needs to be redirected towards areas with greater added value, such as space, cyber security, environmental security, sustainable energy systems, biomedical innovation and sustainable mobility. "And in order to have scientists and engineers, we also need to have artists, writers, anthropologists, a diversity of professions and areas of knowledge", Heitor said.  

"A society isn't just made up of engineers! We also need psychologists, artists, geologists, designers... and many other skills," he said. "Because it's with more creativity that we can do more science, believe more in science and above all believe in future generations. The success of our species lies in this diversity of knowledge and in the exchange of ideas."