The eighth EPRC webinar of 2021 was held April 28th (11:00 – 12:00 UK) over Zoom. Hugo Pinto, Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra and Invited Assistant Professor at the University of Algarve (Portugal), presented on the topic “Socioeconomic crisis, regional resilience and the pandemic: the case of Portugal”.
Pinto’s research focused on the socioeconomic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has generated a complex context for the global economy. He argues that the different capacities to cope with this very disruptive event are quite evident, not only between countries, but particularly at the regional level. The webinar approached the concept of resilience, as it is entering the political discourse and being used to stimulate the comprehension of the adaptive capacity to the current crisis. Resilience is here understood in its more traditional understandings but also as transformational potential.
The presentation highlighted the case of Portugal and its regional vulnerabilities. It showed recent evidence connecting the susceptibility and the exposure of the Portuguese economic fabric to this particular pandemic crisis, with different responses in the labour market. Findings suggest territories highly specialised in the tourism and real estate complex were far less resilient during the first shocks of the pandemic. The seminar ended by underlining the importance of preparing the transformation of the economies. Pinto also presented smart specialisation as a possible policy tool for inducing a sustainable transition and to respond to existing structural challenges.
Hugo Pinto is an economist. He has a PhD in Governance, Knowledge and Innovation and is a permanent researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (Portugal). He is currently co-coordinator of NECES – Research Group Economy-Science-Society. He is a member of the Observatory on Crisis and Alternatives and responsible for the Atlantic Social Innovation Observatory. He is also an invited Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Algarve. He was involved in the design and evaluation of several innovation policies and instruments, recently with a focus on smart specialisation. Recent books of his include Resilience, Crisis and Innovation Dynamics (Edward Elgar) or Resilience and Regional Dynamics (Springer).
Pinto’s presentation can be accessed here, and the recording of the webinar can be viewed on the EPRC’s YouTube page here.
Our next webinar will take place Wednesday May 12th, when Dr. Emil Evenhuis, will present on the “Place-based application of the Well-being Agenda: the case of Dutch regional policy”.
Future EPRC webinars will delve on topics of regional policy and development.
If you would like to attend, watch out for updates and registrations by following @eprc_eu on Twitter