With Portugal being “sought to carry out several very relevant investments in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) gigafactories”the Deputy Minister and State Reform, Gonçalo Matias, announced this Monday in Parliament the creation of two new national data center strategies: one for AI and one for cloud computing (‘cloud’) sovereign in Portugal.
“I would like to announce here some measures that seem relevant to me”, the first of which “is the adoption of a national strategy of ‘data centers‘, particularly focused on artificial intelligence”, revealed the minister, who was speaking at the parliamentary committees on State Reform and Local Power and Budget, Finance and Public Administration, as part of the specialized assessment of the State Budget bill for 2026.
“Portugal is currently being sought after by several very relevant investments in the area of artificial intelligence, and, therefore, we are looking at them in an integrated way, and through a national strategy with pre-licensed zones for ‘data centers” and “we will also present a national strategy for ‘cloud’ sovereign and build an infrastructurecloud sovereign’ in Portugal, naturally in conjunction with other government areas”, he concluded.
Furthermore, he added, in the area of digital services the Government will “create a intervention force within the Agency for State Technological Reform to ensure interoperability and coordination with other government areas”.
Gonçalo Matias, Minister of State Reform, in Parliament
MANUEL DE ALMEIDA
Stressing that “it is not possible to govern without having data”, the minister also announced the launch of a platform to support State managementso that governments can have access to the best information and make decisions based on this national data classification model”.
Still in the field of artificial intelligence, the government official added to the list of measures announced creation of an AI center of excellence/incubator in Public Administration and creation of ‘sandboxes‘ regulatory frameworks (experimental and controlled environments that allow startups and companies to test new technologies), reviewing current technological free zones and ensuring the best artificial intelligence capability.
“Obviously, we are going to use artificial intelligence for document management, to speed up decision times, to improve the quality of the decision. But artificial intelligence will never replace human decision-making, which will always be fundamental for calculating the public interest and weighing up the various interests at stake. Therefore, yes, we are going to invest in artificial intelligence to greatly improve the lives of citizens, to reduce some public decisions from years or months to days or seconds. But in the end there will always be a public administration worker ensuring that the public interest is properly safeguarded”, shot Gonçalo Matias.
In his initial intervention, the minister also reported on the work being done in the National Digital Strategy, to increase the skills and digital literacy of Public Administration and the population, to “take advantage of the enormous benefits that artificial intelligence can bring us”.
“With interoperability, omnichannel service, ‘cloud‘ sovereign, the company’s digital wallet, the building’s digital wallet, the single transport title, the national strategy for smart territories, we are working on many fronts. And determined to use every cent foreseen in this budget to make our country fairer, more prosperous, more agile and closer to citizens and companies”, said Gonçalo Matias.