Portugal joined the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS) consortium in 2013 through UNIDEMI — the Research and Development Unit in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering — and is currently coordinated by researcher Susana Medina Duarte. This integration marked Portugal’s official entry into this important European study on innovation in production.
Coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems Research and Innovation (ISI), the EMS has been developed since 2001 by an international consortium of universities and research units and its main objective is to analyze innovation in production processes, both at the technological and organizational levels, as well as its impacts on the performance of companies in the manufacturing sector.
The research includes a broad set of innovation indicators, covering new products, services, technological and organizational processes, using a standardized questionnaire applied in all participating countries. The data collected are subsequently validated and harmonized, allowing for comparable analyses on an international scale.
Currently, the European Manufacturing Survey consortium includes 22 universities and research units and encompasses a broad international network that includes Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Netherlands, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Portugal’s participation, ensured through UNIDEMI, reinforces the national presence in this European effort to produce comparable and strategic knowledge on innovation and competitiveness in the manufacturing industry.