The EIB conference on “Innovation for a Sustainable and resilient future”, in cooperation with ISEG, and counting on the high patronage of the President of the Portuguese Republic, took place in Lisbon on 23 September 2022.
The high-level conference gathered, among other, H.E. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Portuguese Republic, EIB’s President Werner Hoyer and Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho-Félix, Ms Clara Raposo, Dean of ISEG Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Bertrand Piccard, clean technology pioneer, Jean-Christophe Laloux, EIB's Director General Operations, and Debora Revoltella, EIB's Chief Economist.
Watch the livestream of the conference
Watch EIB President Hoyer's opening keynote
Read the closing remarks by EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix
Find more information on our media advisory and read a recap of the conference on our Press release
Apart from opening and closing remarks and keynote speeches, the international conference included a panel and a fireside chat.
The panel addressed “Financing disruptive innovation for green transition”:
- Significant parts of the technologies that are necessary to implement the green transition have not yet been developed or stand at an early stage of their development.
- It is crucial to identify those technologies and support researchers, innovators and their partners in order to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable and just economy.
- R&D and Innovation should harness climate change and environmental sustainability in line with the objectives of SDG, Paris Agreement and EU Green Deal.
The fireside chat addressed “EU innovation ecosystem and public policy banks”:
- Given also the huge investments required, the public sector, including promotional financial institutions, shall play a key role to facilitate the twin digital and green transitions by tackling market failures and supporting innovative investors.
- Public policy banks shall be instruments to leverage private sector investments with appropriate and fair incentives, in order to complement government actions and generate positive externalities.
- Amongst the array of responses, we may find blending of private and public money, financial instruments for risk sharing, availability of full range of financial products, from venture capital to senior debt, tailored to support projects at different stages of their technology development or market deployment.
