The following is an article contributed to NewsWorld by Mrs. Joana Neves, Director at AICEP and Economic and Trade Counsellor at the Embassy of Portugal in Seoul, on the occasion of Portugal’s hosting the Web Summit 2016 from Nov. 7 to Nov. 10 in Lisbon—Ed.

Lisbon, the venue of the Web Summit 2016. boasts ICT, one of the most promising Portuguese sectors.

 I highlight that the mission of AICEP - Trade & Investment Agency, is mainly divided into four levels: to spur exports to Korea; to promote Portugal as an investment destination; to boost the image of Portugal, communicating and promoting the country’s top products and sectors of activity still unknown by Korean people and business players; and do not spare efforts for positioning our country as a top studies destination for Korean students.

It is important to note that the economic relations between our countries are still modest. In 2015, Korea only was our 45th client and the 23rd supplier. Between 2011 and 2015, the Portuguese exports to Korea increased 41.3 percent, while the Korean exports to Portugal increased 21.9 percent. Therefore, there is still a large unexplored potential and this market must know the urge potential of Portugal to both countries.

One of the most promising Portuguese sectors is the ICT. Therefore, Portugal needed opening new horizons to Portuguese start-ups and also to raise awareness about our country. In this context, some Portuguese start-ups entered the pitch competition of the Web Summit’s 2014. Among the 200 start-ups selected to pitch in the final phase (more than 1 000 start-ups on the ground), Paddy Cosgrave was surprised to see a Portuguese start-up in the final 3 start-ups, being the other two from San Francisco. And the winner was the Portuguese start-up Codacy. 

It is important to note that since the end of Web Summit’s 2014 edition, more than 1 billion USD were invested in the participating start-ups. This doesn’t happen every day or anywhere. Web Summit’s 5th edition that took place last year in Dublin was so far the biggest European Technology conference, with 42,000 attendees, more than 1,200 journalists, more than 1 000 investors and approximately 2,100 start-ups.

According to Paddy Cosgrave, Dublin reached its maximum capacity for the event, hence the decision to move it to a different city in 2016: Lisbon, Portugal. The Web Summit 2016 is a worldwide initiative composed of 21 conferences, from Technology to Sports, Music, Gastronomy, Fashion, Agriculture, and much more. It’s a combination of the world’s talents from several industries in one place, who at the same time, many of the world’s famous people, renowned investors and some of the most innovative minds of the planet. 

All the biggest tech companies of the world attend Web Summit: Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, AirBnB, Facebook, Dropbox, Twitter, Intel, P&G, CISCO and Amazon. Also companies such as Coca-Cola, Nike and Disney (just to name a few), from totally different sectors, all want to be a part of this event. Web Summit’s speakers come from some of the world’s trend setters: Reed Hastings (founder, Netflix), Arianna Huffington (President, Huffington Post), Elon Musk (Tesla & SpaceX), Padmasree Warrior (CTSO, Cisco), Drew Houston (Founder, Dropbox), Bono (U2), Jack Dorsey (Co-founder, Twitter), and many others.

To host this event, Portugal made its case and proved to have the best competitive advantages that companies are looking for. A competitive economy, a strategic location, better technological services, better infrastructures, a larger market than initially expected and a great quality of life. But most of all, Portugal’s most important asset is its talented, skilled and warm people that captivates everyone with their way of doing things. 

This background also explains the increased interest from foreign investors, who see it as a cost competitive and innovative country.

In fact, Portugal has seen a significant growth in the Shared Services & Outsourcing industry. During the last decade, several organizations selected Portugal, namely Lisbon and Porto region, to establish new service centers. The flexibility and skills of the available labor force, reliable telecommunications, high-quality real estate and employment-oriented grants are among the key advantages as an investment location. In the manufacturing sector, the following areas have been recently witnessing a steady growth, thus offering investment opportunities: business support services, technical textiles, medical devices, equipment for renewable energy, applied electronics, information technology, software development, telecom and nanotechnologies / semiconductors and aeronautic components. 

The workforce in Portugal undoubtedly constitutes an asset for foreign investors: students enrolled in tertiary education have been increasing overtime and engineering and science areas already represent 43 percent. English, French and Spanish are the most known languages and half a million foreigners live in Portugal which means a wide native language pool available. Also international partnerships with World-class education institutions offers cutting-edge research and ph.D and Master programs, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Carnegie Mellon, the University of Texas (Austin), Harvard Medical School and FraunhoferGesellschaft (Germany).

On the other hand, Portugal is geographically situated on the west coast of Europe, with the Atlantic Ocean on the west and south, thus placing it in a strategic position within the triangle Africa, Europe and the Americas. 

In my opinion, Korea should take advantages of this reality, because Portugal is a country member of the European market, which represents around 500 million consumers. The country has a privileged access to the Portuguese speaking countries like Brazil (one of the BRIC countries), Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Sao Tom and Principe, Guinea-Bissau and East Timor, all with whom Portugal has important economic and cultural ties and which represents a 250 million consumers market. Concerning costs, Lisbon is the 8th less expensive location within 53 worldwide cities (Cushman & Wakefield), the 16th less expensive city in a total of 68 worldwide cities in terms of office market, and the unit labor costs are below the average of the EU. 

The country also offers: i) political and social stability. We are one of the lowest crime rates worldwide, being the Portuguese society known for welcoming foreigners and, contributing to their easy integration into the country; ii) excellent infrastructure with modern highways to deep sea ports and international airports, very reliable telecommunications network, fully digitalized, as well as broadband penetration that is spreading very fast across the country (Portugal ranks No. 5 among OECD countries in terms of percentage increase of broadband penetration); iii) ease of doing business with a very innovative cutting red tap called Simplex Program. 

It represents among other facilities less than 1 hour an average time to set up a business in Portugal. The Portuguese e-government is even considered a case study, by the United Nations; iv) quality of life. 

I need to stress that Portugal has a mild climate, reliable healthcare facilities and international schools are commonly referred by the ones already established; and v) opportunities for foreign companies: sectors focused on tradable goods and services with positive impact in the foreign trade balance and value added which include ICT; aeronautics; agro & fish industry; automotive; renewable energy; mining industry; naval industry; building materials; molds engineering & tooling; pulp & paper; petrochemical and chemical; life sciences; shared services centers & outsourcing; as well as textile and clothing.

With this background about Portugal, is my job to appeal to the stakeholders and business players for strengthening the ties between Portugal and Korea and continue a collaborative work to better support our companies and other economies.

The Web Summit 2016 will take place in Lisbon from Nov. 7 to Nov. 10. (Photos:AICEP)

International Press impressed with the Web Summit

“The biggest event of its kind in Europe”, CNBC

“A grand conclave of the tech industry’s high priests from all over the world”, The New York Times

“This is Davos for Geeks”, Bloomberg

“It defines the ecosystem”, The Guardian

“We’re here to find the next Google, the next Facebook”, NiklasZennstrem, Founder of Skype and Atomico

Tech world focused in Portugal

Next 3 years, Lisbon will host Web Summit Lisbon will host the founders (gathering of 200 founders and co-founders of worldwide successful star-ups and some of the biggest investors and celebrities)

Lisbon will host the Surf Summit (mix of leisure and networking between tourism and other sectors players)

Attractive conditions to establish international businesses in Portugal

Politicaland social stability

Abundant office and industrial space

Excellent infrastructures

Strategic location and access to markets

Business friendly environment

Government incentives and tax benefits

Competitive labor costs

Qualified, motivated, flexible and innovation-oriented workforce

Qualityoflife

Some things corporate executives don't know about Portugal

Great Talent, flexible and committed to work

Reliable Infrastructures

Strong presence of successful multinationals corporations