Posted on October 3, 2019, 6:41 PMPosted October 3, 2019, 7:06 pm
On the cobbled streets of the Beto district, east of Lisbon, start-ups and co-working spaces have taken over abandoned warehouses on the banks of the Tagus River. The rude facades give way to artistic graffiti and the smallest shop turns into a hipster bar or an old boutique.
The former industrial area in the east of the Portuguese capital has become a new pole of attraction for innovative companies, with the upcoming opening of the large Beato Creative Hub, on an area of 35,000 square meters of converted former military factories. To a cell of new technologies and creative industries.
bubbling of young buds
Since he was chosen in 2016 as Web Summit Headquarters , the annual high mass for geeks, Lisbon has turned out scandalous new shoots but not only. The entire country is taking advantage of this momentum and picking up technology investments. Among the latest to date, Google will establish its second major operating center in Europe, with 1,300 jobs, the Mercedes Benz Digital Innovation Center, and BMW will develop connectivity and autonomous driving projects in alliance with a group of engineering from the University of Coimbra.
” Companies are no longer choosing Portugal only because of its attractive labor costs, but also for the high training and high quality of its workforce as well as for the innovation system around it. says Daniel Trasa, dean of the Nova College of Business and Economics.
Promote the Portuguese brand
This reversal is not the result of chance but rather.” As a result of a long-term strategy, it is set to promote the Portuguese brand abroad as a mark of quality and efficiency Susana Costa e Silva, Professor of Marketing at the Catholic University of Porto, describes.
It all began with the crisis, she explains, when Portuguese companies, in order to survive, had to embark on a forced march on the international level. ” Then the central administration set up a dual strategy to support companies in prospecting and help those who want to invest here, by setting up a favorable tax environment and a full range of services to facilitate installation.. »
tourism crane
The efforts paid off, with exports rising from 18.07% of GDP in 2009 to 28.75% in 2018. As Portugal polished its business reputation, it was also able to use the leverage of tourism to revitalize its image.
It took advantage of the Maghreb crisis to make tourists want to come, or even settle there for their retirement, as more than 30,000 French people have already done, interested in the prospects of Tax exemption for ten years.
The miracle of the economic front
But if tourism (12.8 million visitors in 2018, versus 6.5 million in 2009, for a population of 10.3 million) has strongly contributed to projecting the image of a country in complete transformation, it has also caused property prices to rise (by 30%) in three Years). The pill is bitter for the frustrated Portuguese population whose salaries and pensions haven’t kept up. On the part of the left parties, we condemn “ An economic miracle for the facade This is driving the middle classes out of their traditional inner-city neighborhoods and increasing social discontent among those still waiting to benefit from the economic boom.
