Local and Mainland companies will be able to use a start-up centre to be inaugurated in Lisbon this year as a gateway to the European market, the Portuguese Secretary for Industry, João Vasconcelos, said yesterday on the first day of the 8th International Infrastructure Investment and Construction Forum (IIICF).
“The Macau Government, through its economic departments, will have a space in Lisbon for 20 local and Mainland companies who will able to use Lisbon as an entry point to Europe,” he added.
According to the Secretary, the Portuguese Government is expecting to inaugurate the centre during this year’s technology conference Web Summit to take place in Lisbon from November 6 to 9.
A Start-up and Innovation Centre will also be opened in Macau in order to create a space for Portuguese entrepreneurs to obtain a “soft landing” for the Mainland market, but an exact opening date this year has not been advanced.
“This partnership will make Portugal the first country in Europe to have such a collaboration with China,” he added.
This centre would be based next to the University of Macau since “digital and technology start-ups can’t develop without close partnerships with academic and research centres,” the Secretary said.
The establishment of the two start-up co-operation centres is part of an agreement signed with Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac during Portugal’s Prime Minister’s visit to the MSAR in October of last year.
Tech attraction
This is the third time the Portuguese Secretary for Industry has visited the MSAR, bringing for the first time a business delegation of 20 entities from technology start-ups, investors, start-up incubators to accelerators.
“We have a focus on technology and digital business since these areas don’t have a barrier of distance and logistics, which can sometimes inhibit traditional businesses from investing in Asia,” he said.
This focus on technology led the delegation to visit technology centres of companies in Shenzhen – “the world tech capital” – and the Youth Entrepreneurship Valley in Hengqin,
followed by the Entrepreneur Youth Centre and the Business Incubator Centre in Macau yesterday.
“We’re bringing a different Portugal, more modern and technologically advanced, that is unknown to Chinese authorities and businesses. For most of the delegation this is the first time in Macau and the first time to see this technologically sophisticated side of China, so we’re trying to connect these two worlds,” he said.
The Secretary highlighted the already established presence of some Portuguese companies in Asia such as Aptoide, the third largest application store in the world after Google Play and Amazon.
“Aptoide is a Portuguese start-up with 150 million users in the world and that has established a centre in Shenzhen,” he said.
When questioned about the advantages Macau possessed for developing start-ups, Secretary Vasconcelos said the city’s tourism sector and number of transport connections made the city a perfect base to contact target markets in Mainland China and the rest of Asia
“The wellbeing of their human resources is very important for digital companies and Macau has all the conditions to be a great place to live (…) It also has the infrastructure and Shenzhen is just a one-hour boat ride away (…) Macau can be a hub for this new economy” the Secretary concluded.
