Reflections from the EuroAmericas Forum 2025

From November 17-18, 2025, the EuroAmericas Forum 2025 took place in Cascais, Portugal. The Forum is promoted by the Portuguese Diaspora Council and aims to strengthen the Euro-American relationship while addressing key global policy issues.   

Empowered Startups was grateful to attend the forum for the second year, and participate alongside national and international institutional leaders, entrepreneurs, and academics from both continents.

The Longevity Lens 

The theme of the EuroAmericas Forum 2025 was “Longevity: Driver of Global Opportunities,” which explored topics such as health, trade & economic diplomacy, innovation & workforce resilience, infrastructure & investment, geopolitics, and connected cities. By looking at these topics through the lens of longevity, the Forum explored how economies and global partnerships can endure across generations.  

After two days of learning and connecting, a few key ideas arose from the discussions. In terms of innovation and workforce, issues around changing demographics, AI, and automation, and their effect on labour were key themes. The goal: creating a resilient workforce and creating jobs that acknowledge a longer working life.  

When looking at longevity more broadly, and the aging population, many countries like Portugal, Spain, and Italy are facing a “demographic winter due to longer life expectancy and lower birth rates. This inevitably leads to a population decline, and challenges with GDP and social security. Solutions include increasing the birth rate for long-term impact and boosting immigration for short-term relief. Programs such as the HQA® Program, which encourages immigration from highly qualified professionals, are potential policy options to address these issues.  

Final Thoughts on the 2025 Forum  

The two-day Forum emphasized the importance of the Euro/Americas connection and the policies that exist between the two continents. The speakers at the event, which included Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (President of the Portuguese Republic), Durao Barroso (FormerEU President), Paulo Rangel (Minister of State and Foreign Affairs of Portugal), and Elise Racicot (Ambassador of Canada to Portugal), really shone a light on the importance of cross-Atlantic partnerships and the need for them to stand the test of time.  

Thank you to everyone we met at the 2025 Forum, we can’t wait to implement some of the learnings.