Socio-territorial innovation is an area in which NOVA has decided to invest decisively. This is because there are many needs, vulnerabilities, and potentials of a social and territorial nature in Portuguese society today, which require new visions, perspectives, and responses. Aspects to which universities can and should make an important contribution.
In areas as fundamental as housing, mobility, or food, and more generally in the quality of life and well-being of the population, there is a lack of integrated, multidisciplinary knowledge of the social and political action that results from it.
This situation is becoming more acute as we face significant changes in our societies. Today, we are experiencing a process of transition of social, economic, cultural, and environmental paradigms, with the redefinition of multiple boundaries, at different scales, and with several ongoing trends: from teleworking to personalised digital services; from community networks to greener consumption; from soft mobilities to new urban-rural relationships. These trends are gradually giving rise to new ways of living, working, and coexisting in our societies.
With the successive crises we have experienced, recent times seem to have been times of urgency rather than of transformation. But all times, whether pre- or post-crisis, pre-war, war, or transition and transformation, contribute to the future.
In fulfilling its mission to create value and impact through knowledge, NOVA is committed to collaboratively developing innovative proposals and actions that can contribute to a more cohesive, integrated, and sustainable future for the academic community and society.
In 2022, I created a department dedicated to socio-territorial innovation at the Rectory, which has defined three objectives:
1. To use existing resources at NOVA to develop social and territorial innovation processes.
2. Initially, these initiatives will focus on the well-being of the NOVA communities and its various campuses, later expanding to the metropolitan scale of Lisbon, the South Campus, and the European Alliance "EUTOPIA".
3. Promote a transformative impact in the communities and territories where NOVA operates, through anchor projects, innovative in collaboration with social and territorial actors, with a view to integrated and sustainable social development.
These strategies have been progressively consolidated. As with all the major challenges facing society today, NOVA's success in promoting socio-territorial innovation will depend crucially on our ability to create a collaborative dynamic, first within the University and then with different social and territorial actors, to broaden the perspectives, knowledge, and resources needed to create positive and sustainable change.