Porto Economy Award recognises work on talent retention, waste management and the power of the brand

The best academic dissertations have been chosen, on themes that have somehow focused on local and regional economic dynamics. In the third edition of the Porto Economy Award, a total of EUR 5,500 was awarded to three master's students who presented works on talent retention, the waste management system and the power of the brand. The ceremony took place on Tuesday at the Palacete dos Viscondes de Balsemão palace.

The Councillor for the Economy, Employment and Entrepreneurship considers that 'this award - unique in the country - has a dual objective: disseminating academic work in the field of economics regarding the city of Porto and/or its macro-region, and encouraging the production of scientific work on the themes of economics applied to the local territory'.

Praising 'the quality of the work presented, as well as the quality of the presentations', Ricardo Valente believes that they 'unequivocally demonstrate our Academia's capacity to produce knowledge and the quality of the talent we are currently capable of generating in this area'.

With a study on 'City Branding and talent attraction and retention: The case of the city of Porto', José Pedro Assunção, a master's student in Marketing at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (FEP), is the winner of the first prize.

The second best dissertation also came from the FEP and was written by Afonso Fonseca. The master's student in Environmental Economics and Management presented a paper on 'The level of circularity of urban waste management systems in Portugal: a comparative case study between the metropolitan areas of Porto and Lisbon'.

Closing the podium, the jury chose the dissertation by Maria Martins, a master's student on the Management course at Católica Porto Business School, who studied the topic 'Place brand: The case of the Porto brand'.

Works can be consulted on the Leme platform.

Present at the ceremony, Carlos Brito, president of the jury, emphasised the 'win-win-win result of this initiative: for the students or researchers, for the academia and for the city of Porto'.

'This award is a case study on knowledge transfer', says FEP's professor, noting the 'transparency of the jury's evaluation, as an advisory and independent body, based on an evaluation grid defined in the programme and the application conditions'.

The Porto Economy Award aims to encourage research applied to local economy, allowing students, stakeholders and researchers to present their perspective on the region, in areas involving economic development strategies, investment attraction, talent attraction and retention, competitiveness, knowledge and innovation networks, entrepreneurship or economic diplomacy.

The winning works of the three editions will be available on the Leme platform, which gathers information and socio-economic data on Porto.

Applications for the fourth edition will open by the end of the year.