Funding available for centre region tech-based incubators

Portugal’s CCDR (Regional Coordination and Development Commission) for the centre region has announced the launch of a call for proposals aimed at technology-based incubators, with a budget of €6 million.

The call, launched as part of the Centre Regional Programme (Centro 2030), aims to improve business support services and strengthen facilities dedicated to incubating new technology companies.

According to the CCDR, this funding comes from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is directed at Technology-Based Incubators in the centre region that fall within the Regional Strategy for Smart Specialisation (RIS3 – Centro).

The aim is to accelerate the creation and development of new technology-based companies. The focus is on startups, innovative companies with high growth potential and innovative business models, products or services, resulting from research and development projects, often linked to the research and innovation centres of universities and polytechnic institutes.

For president of CCDR Centro José Ribau Esteves, “this support, which focuses on intangible resources such as creativity and innovation, is crucial for companies to adapt to the new demands of consumers and international political and economic structures”.

Among these demands are “globalisation, the emergence of new technologies, particularly those associated with Artificial Intelligence, and growing competition between economic blocs”.

“It is in this context that technology-based Incubators take on particular importance, insofar as they bring together within the same location a range of facilities and services that create a favourable environment for technological entrepreneurship”.

The above launch, and its consequent requirement for electricity – a component that reports elsewhere have highlighted is already stretched to the limit in Portugal – is an aspect left hanging in this context. Only yesterday, a report by the DGEG (Directorate-General for Energy and Geology) warned that the national grid needs “significant improvements” if the country is not going to be at a continued risk of “power outages for several hours a year”.

Source: LUSA

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.