have always been passionate about History, specifically about the classical period. What always lured me about historical analysis were the critical factors of a given moment in time, which determined the causes and consequences of several changes, whether human or physical. The biggest appeal of it is to understand that these factors and pivotal causes are cyclical.

This perspective allows us to comprehend our role in the current 4.0 industrial revolution, and understand where to position our industry in this industrial revolution.

Naturally, understanding our economy’s nature and our industrial infrastructure, we can hardly foresee our industries leading revolutionary moments in technology. However, they are certainly in the position to become its early adopters and to be pioneers in the introduction and leverage of new technologies.

Here, once again, it’s vital to understand what the critical factors for our evolution are. When we look at the technological balance brought by each technological evolution / revolution, we discover that the Textile and Clothing Industry (TCI) was always at the front line or even played the main part.

Let’s take a look at the factors that triggered the first industrial revolution, whose causes and factors are common to its cradle economy (Britain) and to the early adopters (New England, Ruhr, Hauts-de-France, Lombardy and others).

In the late 18th century, we connect Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, James Watt’s steam engine and Edmund Cartwright’s power loom in the same commercial area of the British Empire, in the heart of the very first truly capitalist society by the canons of Adam Smith (1775); accessibility to investment thanks to the first central investment bank (The Bank of England); and an enormous mercantile fleet stretched around the globe. In addition, we could also mention the abundant (for several reasons) manpower.

Critical factors: technological innovation, accessibility to investment and to human resources, new market concepts. To carry these factors to the current days, we will have to update them accordingly. Even considering that the access to international markets is much simpler today, we can agree that the qualified human resources, the infrastructure and industrial conjuncture, the access to investment and the disruptive innovation are still critical factors to leverage a new industrial revolution in the TCI sector.

When we look at Portugal’s Northern and Central regions, we ascertain that they combine many of these critical factors: synergies between different industrial sectors (metalworking, information technology and the TCI); industrial conjuncture, like the proximity between the companies and the five biggest Universities in the country (Minho, Porto, Aveiro, Beira Interior and Coimbra); highly qualified human resources available; and the innovation potential represented by the Technological Interface Centres and its relationship with the Academy and the Industry.

We also possess an enviable capacity of generating new businesses and new methods to approach the market.
TCI’s ability within these new critical factors has enabled it to overcome crises and to compete in a global market. Our only frailty is a chronic inability to invest, especially in innovation.

Portugal 2030s negotiations in Brussels, and the ability to learn from the mistakes of the previous European frameworks, are imperative to leverage the industrial innovations that will drive us to the 4.0, or maybe 5.0, Industry!

As we discussed before, to predict the future we need only to learn from the past.