Portugal is not only appearing in the European Top 5 of the Financial Times rankings through business schools such as CATÓLICA-LISBON. The ranking of the best Startup Hubs released last month places Portugal in the European Top 5, with twelve of its startup hubs among the 180 best in Europe, including eight in the Top 100 and four in the Top 40. Being in Europe’s Top 5 among more than 30 countries, considering Portugal’s size, is an extraordinary achievement.
It is also relevant that this is not a phenomenon limited to the city of Lisbon, but rather one that extends across the entire country. Although Lisbon has seven of the twelve best hubs, with particular emphasis on Unicorn Factory, Lispolis, Fintech House and Build Up Labs, Startup Braga and Startup Leiria are in the Top 70, while Business Factory in Ericeira, Uptec in Porto and Startup Madeira are also represented. There are also hubs focused on Impact startups, such as Casa do Impacto in Lisbon.
This is a genuine national entrepreneurship ecosystem that generates significant benefits for the Portuguese economy. It helps retain and attract the best young global talent, promotes mechanisms for technology transfer between academia and the business sector, and develops innovation in established companies by connecting them with innovative startups. Additionally, it enables the creation and growth of hundreds of startups, some of which become unicorns, meaning high growth startups valued at more than one billion dollars. These unicorns launch global products from the outset and develop centers of expertise in Portugal, hiring hundreds of qualified workers. Among the most recent Portuguese unicorns are SwordHealth, Feedzai and Tekever, which together employ more than 1,500 people in Portugal. There are already eight unicorns of national origin, a very positive number in the European context, in addition to more than 40 unicorn companies with significant operations in Portugal, many of them attracted by the Unicorn Factory in Lisbon. Their growth potential is tremendous. For example, Feedzai has been contracted by the European Central Bank to ensure the security of the future digital euro, and Tekever is making a strong impact in the drone sector, with significant contracts in both civil and defense areas.
More than individual examples, however, what truly matters is that Portugal has been able to develop a dynamic ecosystem that generates a virtuous cycle among talent, capital, technology, innovation and entrepreneurial capacity, continuously creating new startups. This is the central engine of a modern, dynamic and innovative economy. But how did Portugal manage to reach the Top 5 in Europe for entrepreneurship hubs?
It happened because Portugal implemented something that is often lacking in the country: a strategic vision that combines endogenous resources with global openness, aligned with consistent public policies that span the political spectrum, involve private partners and maintain continuity over time. In Lisbon, the most ambitious policies to transform the city into a global hub for technology startups were launched from 2010 onward, with the creation of Startup Lisboa, the renewal of urban spaces to launch innovation hubs, and the hosting of the Web Summit since 2016, which placed Lisbon on the global map of technological entrepreneurship. These policies mobilized endogenous resources that give Portugal competitiveness, such as the excellent national engineering and science schools and the attractive conditions for retaining global talent.
It is also important to highlight the articulation between local and national policy levels and their consistency over time. The policies and strategies of cities such as Lisbon and Braga have been complemented by national policies, even though they were often implemented by governments supported by different political parties. This allowed for a growing level of ambition, from Startup Lisboa to Startup Portugal, from hosting the Web Summit in Lisbon to launching a unicorn factory. It is also worth highlighting the creation of driving organizations such as Startup Portugal, associations or mission structures with a focused mandate and the agility to operationalize policies and energize the ecosystem.
A similar scenario can be seen in policies promoting social innovation, another area in which Portugal is performing strongly and is considered a European reference. Launched under a center right government in 2014, championed by a center left government from 2016, and supported again by a center right government since 2024, the social innovation policy has a dedicated organization, the Portugal Social Innovation Mission Structure, which operates with a national focus and has maintained strong and dedicated leadership over the past ten years. As a national organization, it also operates at the regional level through its ecosystem facilitators and through partnerships with hundreds of municipalities.
In all these processes there is a clear perspective. Central and local governments must create the conditions and facilitate the mechanisms for the establishment, recognition and financing of innovative projects and companies, but it is economic agents who innovate: entrepreneurs, companies and social organizations. In this context, the main sources of financing are provided by the private or philanthropic sectors rather than by public funds, although public funds can play an important role in reducing risk or accompanying private investment. Today in Portugal there is a growing number of startup investment funds and an expansion of social investment practices.
Another lesson is the importance of avoiding an excessive focus on specific flagship projects, since the success of each innovative initiative will always have a high degree of variability. The concept of an innovative ecosystem is precisely to create the conditions for many innovative initiatives to emerge. Some will fail, while others may achieve enormous success, and it is difficult at the outset to distinguish between them. Portugal and its companies need to innovate successfully, and the entrepreneurship ecosystem is the fertilizer of that innovative dynamic. Portugal deserves congratulations once again.
For our part, Católica, considered in 2024 the most entrepreneurial university in Portugal, will continue to contribute by developing and promoting entrepreneurs with impact. In this regard, I invite everyone to attend the Negócios com Impacto event at CATÓLICA-LISBON on March 18 at 6:00 p.m., where we will highlight more than 40 of Portugal’s best innovators, graduates of Católica who have embarked on the adventure of entrepreneurship to make the world a better place.
Filipe Santos, Dean of CATÓLICA-LISBON