″ Portugal has everything to be a digital nation ″
A paternal grandmother, mother of seven boys, and who “was a feminist without a saber” gave her the will and determination to put women on an equal footing in Portuguese society and especially in top technology careers, where life took Luísa Ribeiro Lopes, despite his degree in Law. Today, the president of the Board of Directors of .PT (the entity responsible for managing the national top-level domain) and general coordinator of INcoDe.2030, the largest policy program dedicated to strengthening digital skills, is well suited to the challenge she has for front. And that goes a long way not only in attracting women to the STEM (science and pure mathematics) areas – “there are only 12%”, he quotes by heart – but also in the awareness that there is hard work ahead in building a country with literacy that allows it to compete with the rest of Europe on an equal footing.
We meet at Hygge Kafe, close to Saldanha – where he has his office and where he is about to move, leaving behind his years of life in Aroeira – and at the table in the modern cafe that tells of his ambition and concerns. In front of us are some buckets of coffee, which neither of them can dispense, and Luísa is unraveling the enthusiasm with which she embraces each challenge. Whether it’s the early morning rush that never fails, or the digital revolution at hand.
Founding partner of APDSI, member of the Strategic Council of ACEPI and of the Executive Committee of MUDA – Movement for active digital use, Luísa has the right profile for a mission for which she was nominated. And the certainty of the difficulties he faces does not take away his spirit to fulfill a task. “We have two programs that are making all the difference in this digitalization that we had underway and which was brutally accelerated by the pandemic”, will describe the potential of Digital Commerce, created to bring companies into this universe and with a focus on specific managers; and Eu Sou Digital, promoted by INcoDe.2030 and Portugal Digital, which materializes in the attraction of young mentors to use the older people around them to use the internet, in a very close relationship. “It was launched in the summer and we want it, in three years, to be able to attract 1 million adults and leverage our human capital in the European index; we still have an 18% share of digital illiteracy in the Portuguese population, this is the new illiteracy and we have to be able to overcome it, to tackle the digital divide quickly and consistently.” It is not just to look good in European photography, it is also to overcome problems such as loneliness, isolation, lack of access that this pandemic produces more painfully notorious.
“A digital mission brutally accelerated into a pandemic, which ultimately helped to develop the goals we had outlined, which were accelerated, but it also deepened the inequalities between those who have and those who do not have skills, access to resources. And our task. . became more emergent.” The account that just in the first month of confinement there was a growth of 64%. Almost two-thirds of companies did not have an internet domain and this percentage reversed and solidified. It has the numbers very present and guarantees that those who are about to leave, who cannot yet share, “are very optimistic”.
But this trip also generated new risks that must be faced, the challenge of cybersecurity. “There is a lot of work to be done, both against inequality and in the area of cybersecurity, because the attacks have multiplied, between people who are unprotected at home and those who have made their debut in the digital world and simply do not know the dangers. door to door, bringing training to everyone, with field work.” He believes there are signs that we are on the right path. Whether internal – “the course most done on our platform was Cidadão Ciberseguro, free, certified and guaranteeing that this learning experience” – or global. “The whole of Europe takes this priority on digital and sustainability and that’s great. I’m a staunch Europeanist and I see Europe doing all the homework. Sometimes we’re slow, but we’re more consistent and we’re doing a lot of regulatory work. important: we lead in data protection, we are working on regulation. And Portugal has to position itself to be at the forefront of what is happening and happening and its strategic geographic situation will happen as a beneficiary of this path in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, data, etc.”
A journey from MIRC to digital PRR
Anyone who hears Luísa speak is not suspicious of her training in the law, she looks like a digital native. With American coffees, a bowl of yogurt with fruit and scrambled eggs in front of him, he tells the journey that brought technology to his skin and that started with his parents calling him crazy when he decided to exchange a safe career in banking for an adventure in the Azores . Luísa had left the Lisbon Faculty of Law happy – “I still like this area very much, which gave me excellent foundations” – and was at the Caixa Central de Crédito Agrícola when she decided to apply for a position at Electricity in the Azores. Being accepted changed his life. “At that time, the opportunity arose to make a digital office – which was a challenge at a time when we were communicating through MIRC … but it was a success and set asking us to go everywhere to show the project.” In 1998, when Carlos César wins the Azores, he invites her to advise and put her in charge of the Azores Digital Region, as a result of a program by the then minister Mariano Gago. Even before returning to Lisbon, in 2000, with a 1-year-old daughter, he represented the region at Sociedade de Inovação.
At 55, the dimples in his smile reveal the pride he doesn’t let go of in his speech when he remembers that he arrived at .PT when there were only 10,000 registered domains. In a single day, in February of this year, 1,000 were registered, adding up to a total that already exceeds 1.3 million domains. And events like the Web Summit also contribute to that boost. “Having an event like this in Portugal makes all the difference. We have access to what is happening in the world, we are at the center of everything for a few days. And we, being entrepreneurs as we are, with a fantastic climate, security and so many qualities, we have everything to be a digital nation. But we need to attract and retain talent, to capture young people and technological entrepreneurship in all areas. And the PRR can help. It’s the first global European plan in which Portugal can participate, and it’s an incredible possibility.”
Recognizes the dimension of the task. In terms of education, for example: “We want all students and teachers to have access to mobile internet by 2023, a huge challenge that is urgently needed to be met, both in terms of equipment and the training of children and those who teach them, way to have a more digital school. Even though I’m a total supporter of the classroom, there are things in which digitization plays an undeniable role, such as answering questions online or facilitating a more immediate interaction. “
The transformation of the skills of the population that already works is also being seen as an absolute priority, and if Luísa recognizes that “a residual number will not be able to keep up with the change”, she knows that an overwhelming majority can and should be re-qualified to have access to ” jobs more challenging and interesting”. And it is up to the State to provide these conditions, to open the way, in which programs such as Upskill (advanced requalification built in conjunction with polytechnics, which guarantee employment in certain technological companies with a 1200 report) are essential.
This digital revolution, he recalls, opens up immense possibilities, both in retaining Portuguese talent and in attracting foreigners to settle here, but this priority must be taken seriously, as we are now competing with the entire world for talent. “This emergence of qualification is also reflected in incentives such as the increase of vacancies in ICT and in reconversion projects, through policies of better options in supported areas… There are 800 thousand job openings today in the ICT areas in Europe . market is global, young people go where they have the best opportunities. If they want to have talent and good, as companies they will have to pay to attract young people who see much more in life than employment as we understood it before, who attach importance to an entire ecosystem. “
Luísa knows what she’s talking about: her daughter, now 22, moves precisely in the data area, where she sees a world of possibilities. And if it is recognized that the 5G auction process “did not go the best way and this could bring us back on this path”, the operators’ efforts can help mitigate part of this loss.
put women in their place
With brunch almost finished, she shares the area that moves her in the 19 hours she spends awake each day: the grandmother’s result that translates into her desire to leave a more equal world for her daughter. “Never have so many 18-year-old students in Higher Education as this year and 52% of them are women”, he stresses. “Today we have policies that promote this transformation towards Inclusion a lot, and Secretary of State Rosa Monteiro promotes it a lot. I’m afraid that momentum will be lost for political reasons, although there are also right-wing women, like Leonor Beleza, who share many values women. The point is, we can’t take certain things for granted.”
And if in her technological mission Luísa Ribeiro Lopes recognizes that she would like to take the projects to the end, the doctorate she embarked on three years ago, in Gender Studies, led her to bridge the gap between that vocation and the mission for equality, dealing with the theme of “Girls’ experiences in ICT in college”. “I learned from my grandmother’s example that women have a decisive role and I would like to contribute to ending this imbalance.”
However, it has no desire to eternalize itself with struggles. Unconditional adept at traveling and with African and South American destinations at the top of the favourites, Luísa assumes that this was the part of life that I miss the most, inspired by the pandemic – “although I managed to go to the Azores with my daughter and we even went up to Pico”, he says, always looking for the better side. And he guaranteed that he will see himself very well in ten years’ time: “Reading, with my feet in the sand, on any beach.