Portugal wants to change its image as a country that boils down to tourism and tax benefits for French expatriates .
Portugal has many assets: a favorable economic climate, its geographical location on the Atlantic coast, security conditions, infrastructures and Portuguese talents. The real estate market in Portugal remains competitive in terms of quality and price.
But now government policy turns to digital development. By attracting the giants of high technology, the Portuguese public authorities are banking on reindustrialization and the development of employment in high-wage positions.
This is how Google is setting up a technical support center in greater Lisbon , which will create 535 for 7,000 square meters of modern offices from June 2022. The American giant expects the creation of 2,000 jobs in the long term
Amazon has been negotiating for a year to set up a service center in Porto (250 skilled jobs) which should be a real technological hub for its expansion in Africa. Jeff Bezos is indeed planning to invest in a building in the Portuan district of Boavista where his group would benefit from the creative dynamism of northern Portugal.
Portugal is thus positioning itself to welcome, in the wake of Google and Amazon, other high-tech multinationals.
In order to establish this hi-tech image, Lisbon hosts the Web Summit every year. This event brought together more than 42,000 participants in its last edition, with the participation of 200 exhibitors from 160 countries.
All the world capitals are fighting to attract new tech companies. Toronto ranks first in high-tech job growth over the past two years, according to a ranking compiled by CBRE . Toronto experienced 26 %. It includes the locations of major brands such as Google, Amazon, Netflix, Reddit, TikTok, DoorDash, Uber, Pinterest and Wayfair.
Portugal is looking to the future by focusing on hi-tech companies. The Lisbon tram will nonetheless remain as the image of Epinal of a country where history and culture retain an important place.
