Portugal already has more than five thousand startups in the country, having created an entrepreneurship ecosystem that has reached sufficient size for the next challenge to no longer be just the birth of new companies. According to Miguel d'Aguiar, CEO of Startup Portugal, these companies currently generate more than 28 thousand jobs, bill 2,856 million euros in revenue and represent about 1% of Portuguese GDP. The goal is that, over the next 10 years, startups represent 15 billion euros of GDP, multiplying their economic impact by five.
These companies already have a strong international orientation, with exports of 1,571 million euros and significant interest in the markets of the United States, Brazil, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Over the past decade, there has been a profound transformation in the sectors of activity, moving from the development of applications for mobile phones to deep tech companies, which are at the intersection between science and technology, covering areas such as drones, clothing, footwear and health tech.
Startup Portugal coordinates several support programs, including Business Abroad for international presence, the Road 2 Web Summit that has already taken more than a thousand startups to the event in Lisbon, and the Startup Voucher and Vales de Incubação programs, which have already approved around a thousand projects with more than 31 million euros in direct support. This year, Tech Foundry Portugal – Deep Tech Edition was launched to support scientific teams in the transition from laboratory to market.
Miguel d'Aguiar identifies bureaucracy and access to investment as the two major persistent difficulties for entrepreneurship in Portugal and the European Union. Startup Portugal has already traveled to Brussels three times this year to convey the concerns of Portuguese entrepreneurs to European institutions and learn about European initiatives in these areas.
