The Network Society - University of Massachusetts Amherst

428 The Network Society
importance the so-called traditional industries, the small and mediumsized
enterprises, the informal economy and the pre-Taylorist technical
and organizational models have within it—and to the considerable
deficits in terms of literacy, experimental culture and innovation
rooted in Portuguese society.
In relation to this last point, I should add the following. Although it
is true that this contextualized approach to development and innovation
has protected me from excessively naive visions as to the possibilities
of changing the economy and society using the technological
impulses in a very short period of time, it is also true that it has never
ceased to provide me with surprising sources of optimism.
By way of example, I can refer the knowledge that, in Portugal, a
country frequently considered to be unreceptive to innovation, there
have been, in traditional industry sectors with strong exposure to
international competition and in territorial areas without an entrepreneurial
association tradition, remarkably successful experiences in the
organized diffusion of the new technologies, on-going training, the
generalized expansion of innovation and the sustained increase of
competitiveness levels. The fact that I have been able to draw some
public attention to such experiences in the scope of the initiatives I
have dedicated to technological modernization and business innovation
in Portugal is, indeed, a source for great satisfaction for me.
It is understandable that someone like myself, who has spent more
than forty years fighting for the full exercise of fundamental civic liberties
and questioning themselves as to the concrete possibilities of
democracy democratizing itself, should want, as President of the
Portuguese Republic, to debate with a certain degree of depth, at the
conference cycle I referred to, the opportunities for perfecting democratic
life and improving participation of the citizens provided by the
new technologies.
I have, however, not done so with the sole purpose of concentrating
on the national concerns in this area. As I have said, I sincerely believe
that, with the advent of closely interconnected economies and societies,
the triangle of convictions constituted around the objectives of
development, democracy and social justice should be transferred,
without any concessions in terms of quality, to the plan for the combat
for recognition of the dignity of human life on the global scale.