The University of Porto is one of 22 partner organizations of InvestPorto, a new investment agency boosted by the Porto City Council (CMP), which will have the mission to attract and capture more projects and investors to the city and the region.
Constituted at the end of 2014 and led by Ana Teresa Lehmann, professor and former Pro-Rector of the University of Porto in the areas of strategic planning and business relationships, this new body aims to “contribute to the creation of a more favoring investment business environment in the city of Porto “. To do so, this organization will take the responsibility for “follow the investor during all phases of the investment process,” stressing the “competitive advantages of Porto as a favorable destination for direct, domestic and foreign investment attraction,” said the president of the Porto City Council, Rui Moreira, during the presentation ceremony of InvestPorto.
The presentation of this new agency coincided with the signing of the protocols “with a significant number of highly relevant entities to the economic growth of the city, the region and the country” with which the municipality intends to “explore complementarities and synergies for the promotion of an environment conducive to competitiveness, business innovation and the attraction of investment. “The role of the University of Porto will pass through “promoting interaction between the scientific and technological system and the business environment, enhancing knowledge transfer and support technology creating new dynamics of business, to strengthen competitiveness and attractiveness of the city of Porto, at the international level. ”
The University also commis to “encourage and support local businesses in the development of innovation in a systematic and sustained manner, including through their network of knowledge sharing focused on R & D, and other activities aimed at the enhancement of knowledge and business innovation. ”
Among the initiatives that the University of Porto will be called to contribute, they include “business training actions and other initiatives that encourage entrepreneurship and business innovation” and actions to support innovation and business promotion to encourage the creation of new dynamics business that support the enhancement of knowledge. Its also planned to hold conferences, seminars, thematic meetings, business forums and other “initiatives that promote stimulating business development” as well as the participation in “projects that promote the attraction of high value added activities to the local economy, intensive in knowledge and innovation and strong interaction with entities of the scientific and technological system. ”
The University of Porto joins, in this way, to a collective effort that also join business associations, trade centers and industrial hubs of competitive edge and technology, interface institutes, and other public and private entities. For now, InvestPorto has started a series of contacts with “a significant number of national and international investors,” said Ana Teresa Lehman.
