1 2 3 4 Cultural and Creative Industries Strategies Industrial and Competitiveness Policies Research, Development and Innovation Strategies Circular Economy and Ecodesign Policies Digitalisation Strategies Built Environment and Architectural Policy
1
Overlooked
2
Mentioned
3
Integrated
4
Championed

Country Profile: Portugal

  • Country Size: 91,424 km²
  • Citizens: 10,639,726 (2024) | Tendency: rising
  • GDP per capita: 28,844.5 $ (2024) | Tendency: rising
  • EU Innovation Scoreboard: Moderate Innovators (2025) | 102.2%
  • BEDA Member Organisation: esad—idea (R&D unit of ESAD/College of Art and Design)

Dedicated design policy status

No

Design in other policy agendas

  • Circular Economy Strategy – The National Action Plan for the Circular Economy (PAEC) includes strong references to design, particularly eco-design and circular design, with principles and proposed actions for integrating design into product lifecycles. [Championed]
  • Digital Strategy – The National Digital Strategy briefly highlights design in the context of user-friendly and well-designed public services, but in a limited and generic way.
  • CCI, innovation, industrial/development, architecture strategies – No strategies or references to design were identified. [Overlooked]

Observations

Portugal’s emerging policy attention to design is concentrated in the circular economy domain, where eco-design is explicitly recognised as a driver of sustainable transitions. Other strategies, such as digital transformation, reference design in a superficial manner and there is no evidence of a broader cross-sectoral approach. This indicates potential to build on the strong circular economy framing to position design more strategically across innovation and development agendas.