Portugal’s information and communication technology sector employs 80,000 people and contributes about 10 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product, which in 2022 was US$371 billion in purchasing parity terms.
Portugal’s largest cities, Lisbon and Porto, are part of the Scale Cities Alliance, which seeks to connect tech hubs across 13 European cities. Portugal has also set up a national network of incubators to boost tech start-ups. All these initiatives are paying off. Portugal has produced seven unicorns so far, including Sword Health, a digital physiotherapy firm; OutSystems, a low-code enterprise development platform; and Farfetch, a luxury fashion portal.
One noteworthy initiative to encourage start-ups, the Unicorn Factory Lisboa, says it has 60 partners, including Google, Microsoft, AWS Startups and PwC. The Portuguese capital has converted 18 decrepit industrial buildings facing the port into a vibrant technopreneurial complex, supported by US$55 million worth of private investment from tech firms, including European managed IT services provider, Claranet.