Continuing from the previous post linked above—which highlighted Portugal surpassing several of Germany’s leading universities across multiple scientific fields—it is worth celebrating yet another remarkable achievement: in 2024, Portugal ranked 15th worldwide for Scopus-indexed AI publications per million inhabitants, while Germany occupied the 20th position.
A recent and thorough search of the Scopus database reveals an even more striking portrait of Portugal’s rapid ascent in the field of artificial intelligence. In absolute terms, Portugal now produces more AI publications than countries such as Denmark, Belgium, Norway, or Finland. When taking population into account, Portugal has made a remarkable ascent to 8th place among the world’s top ten countries in terms of AI publications per million inhabitants, achieving a ratio that is an impressive 65% higher than that of Germany.
What accounts for this remarkable surge? Perhaps it is the ascent of a new Portuguese hero—Virgílio Bento. A young PhD with an audacious vision, he founded Sword Health, a company that now commands dozens of AI patents and uses artificial intelligence to confront one of humanity’s oldest afflictions: pain. With more than 600,000 patients already helped and a valuation surpassing $4 billion, Sword Health has become far more than a successful startup. Forged through rigorous research, real-world impact, and bold entrepreneurial vision, the company has risen as a shining beacon for Portuguese researchers.
Update after 5 dasy — The top 5 countries showing the highest foreign interest in this post are the USA (25%), Singapore (14%), Germany (10%), Finland (4%), and Australia (3%).
