<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>King Felipe VI, the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, and the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, will chair a new edition of the COTEC Europe Summit this week, which will address the challenges to competitiveness and economic growth in the European Union.</strong></h4> The 18th COTEC Europe Summit 2025 will take place on May 13 and 14 at the Convent of San Francisco, in Coimbra, under the theme "A Call to Action." Prior to this, Felipe VI and Mattarella will be awarded Honorary Doctorates of Law by the University of Coimbra this Tuesday in the presence of the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. With this, King Felipe follows in the footsteps of his father, King Juan Carlos, who was named an Honorary Doctor by the University of Coimbra, a 700-year-old institution, in May 1989. The Foundation for Technological Innovation (COTEC) was established in 1990 at the initiative of King Juan Carlos with the aim of promoting innovation as an economic and social driver. The summit, which has been held in a different country each year since 2005, in rotating order, brings together the heads of state of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, the three countries where the Foundation (of which the King is Honorary President) is located, along with authorities, business leaders, and relevant figures from the field of research, development, and innovation (R&D&I) in Europe. Since 2017, each meeting has been dedicated to a specific topic. The recent meetings, held in Naples (2019), the National Palace of Mafra, near Lisbon (2020), Malaga (2021), and Braga (2020), addressed the topics of the Intangible Economy, Public Administration 4.0, Work 4.0, and Culture and Innovation. Spain has hosted the event six times, the first four in Madrid (2006, 2009, 2012, and 2017), the 2021 meeting in Malaga, and the last, in September 2024, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. At the Coimbra Summit, business leaders, academics, and policymakers will address the challenges to competitiveness and economic growth in the European Union based on the Draghi, Heitor, and Letta reports. On Tuesday, the Industrial Partnerships initiative will be launched, promoting collaborations in strategic sectors such as Space and Defense, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Semiconductors, High-Performance Computing, and Artificial Intelligence. The following day, three panels will address key topics for European competitiveness: Entrepreneurial Academia, the Business Network, and Public Innovation Policies. The event will also feature a speech by former Italian Prime Minister and former President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, on Europe's competitive challenges.
