If there were any doubts, it is increasingly evident that the postpandemic world will not be the same again – which does not mean that this is negative, it means that now more than ever, we can learn from the mistakes of the still recent past and write history with the meaning we all deserve. If there is anything this pandemic has changed, it most certainly is the collective awareness that Europe urgently needs to reindustrialize, to ensure responsiveness in key areas and not to be so dependent on third countries.
And that Portugal can and should participate as much as possible in this reindustrialization effort, as this will be the only way we can ensure the sustainable growth of industrial activities and not rely too much on the services sector.
Deep down, we need to think about a strategy that makes our industries more competitive, resilient, and sustainable –economically, environmentally, and socially. This will avoid problems like the ones we have experienced with COVID-19 – Europe's inability to produce raw materials and basic and essential goods in order to ensure the protection of the population, such as masks, tests or ventilators.
More recently, the issue of vaccine production arises – in record time, pharmaceutical companies have been able to develop several vaccines against covid-19, however, European laboratories have not had and still do not have the capacity to produce the necessary quantities for countries to be able to vaccinate their population and achieve herd immunity in the desired time. This is a clear and dangerous reflection of the lack of industrial capacity, and particularly of a differentiated industry capable of meeting the demands of new technologies. This weakness puts the European Union in a vulnerable position when it needs to negotiate and mirrors how far we are from regaining leadership in large industrial markets.
We believed that one of the most effective strategies to deal with this situation was to make the most of the know-how of each one and establish robust and quality synergies that will ensure that we have a competitive position in international markets.
We need to create a culture of working in partnership, in a strategic cluster logic.
A positive point is that we are gradually starting to see this happening – Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton recently announced that the European Union has 53 sites for full production or the production of anticovid-19 vaccine components. With this, from an optimistic perspective, production is expected to rise to more than three billion doses by the end of the year.
Portugal now has the opportunity to get back on its feet and for this it needs to develop a plan focused on the competitiveness of the entire domestic industry, from footwear, to clothing, tourism and pharmaceutical sciences. A strategy needs to be implemented to ensure the correct and effective use of European Recovery Plan funds by investing in the production of goods and services, with greater added value and in areas such as digitization or energy transition.
In addition, we are a country with specific characteristics that should be used as important assets, namely the high qualification of human resources, the ease of mastering several languages, technology, the quality of knowledge and innovation that we are able to produce.
The country is fully aware of this need, and this is reflected by the EUR 558 million provided for in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) for reindustrialization, which (we hope) will ensure the structural transformation of the national economy. Among the strategic areas announced are science, medicines and medical devices – this is a point to be reflected on considering that 40% of medicines marketed in the European Union (EU) come from third countries and that 60% to 80% of the active ingredients of medicines are manufactured in external markets.
This clearly shows us that the loss of European independence in the health sector is largely due to the relocation of production. In addition to raw materials, consumables such as filters, special resins or vaccine purification materials can also cause constraints on production in Europe/Portugal.
This must be urgently reviewed, mainly because the European Union has long faced the problem of drug shortages, something that has been worsening in recent years due to increased global demand. More recently, the pandemic has set off all the alarms by further aggravating this shortage, which inevitably weakens Member States' health systems.
This is where we all have a role to play, being able to think outside the box and taking advantage of these opportunities. This year, for example, Bluepharma will start construction on a technological park to create a pharmaceutical cluster in Coimbra.
The Bluepharma Park has a total area of 6.5 hectares and entails making a total investment of about 150 M€ over the next 10 years. This project will give Bluepharma a direct entry into the sector of the latest generation of complex injectables, making it another asset in this race to recover the economy and health of the Portuguese.
The goal is to move the group's logistics platform to Bluepharma Park, but it also aims to attract international partners to this park, in which one of the company's priorities is to enter the sector of the latest generation of complex injectables, without discarding vaccines, which are no more than complex injectables, at a later stage.
The future of Portugal and Europe lies in having a strong, diversified and sustainable growth model at all levels. The industry must return to the leading role that, unfortunately, it has lost. We must become an important source of job creation, investment, and innovation. A modernized industrial structure is a robust industrial structure capable of promoting the recovery of the country, which we all want and need.