**4. Cultural inheritance**

The Naval Engineers in Portugal are heirs of a long tradition in shipbuilding, which allowed the Maritime Expansion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The legacy of some of the men who studied and built ships in Portugal at that time have reached our days: Fernando de Oliveira, João Baptista Lavanha and Manuel Fernandes. The Portuguese Age of Discovery and later maintenance of the regular transport of passengers and goods and maritime safety between the multiple components of the "Portuguese Space" up to the twentieth century are very much in keeping with Portuguese Naval Engineering [1].

The Portuguese Economy of the Sea has shown, over time, great economic and social resilience, being able to grow above the average of the national economy during a period of great economic instability. If investment in the marine industries is strengthened, particularly in terms of external investment, the economy of the sea will be able to progress to higher levels of growth and economic development [2].

Compared with its terrestrial dimension, the maritime geographic dimension of Portugal is enormous. Its location in the North Atlantic, in the west of the European continent, as maritime neighbors of the American and the African continents, and with a history closely linked to the oceanic routes, particularly with the Asian continent, indicates that its geographical position has relevant strategic significance [2].

The recent "rediscovery" of the Economy of the Sea as a source of wealth and resources, mainly with the development of marine renewable energies and with the expansion of the continental shelf, which could potentially contain oil, natural gas and minerals, will certainly pose great challenges and offer new opportunities to Portuguese Naval Engineering in the twenty-first century [1].
