The Algarve Tech Hub, which will be born at the Penha Campus of the University of Algarve, in Faro, will be a reality in two years' time. But this building “is more than brick”. It will be a «headquarters» of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) companies in the region and a «seed» that can make the Algarve «a Silicon Valley on our scale».
The intention to create a Tech Hub in the Algarve is not new. Algarve STP, an association that brings together the Chamber of Faro, the Câmara de Loulé, ANJE and the University of Algarve, was born in 2001, when there was the idea of building a space of this kind in Parque das Cidades, but it never came to fruition.
17 years later, the location has changed, the technology has evolved, new companies were born, which were also involved in the project, and the Tech Hub will become a reality.
Paulo Águas, rector of the University of Algarve, in an interview with Sul Informação, added that he hopes that «the technological pole will be a reality in two years' time. It will be an area of 3 thousand square meters, occupied by companies in the ICT area. We will have 300 people working at Penha».
The building that will be occupied by these companies is the Pedagogical Complex, which will be «reconverted in terms of architecture with adequate conditions for companies of this nature», explains Paulo Águas.
For the creation of this Tech Hub, a notice-invitation was launched by CCDR Algarve, under the Regional Operational Program CRESC Algarve 2020, with an initial budget allocation of 3,8 million euros, and «the application for these funds will be closed after the summer».
According to rector Paulo Águas, companies that set up in the new space “will not only be providing services to clients, they will also be there to interact with the University. This is a condition for being in the technological pole. Our vocation is not to rent spaces, it is to create conditions for interaction and development of research activity related to the ICT area. In this sense, there is a set of very interesting local and regional partners. Most of them are former students of the University of Algarve and I am convinced that we are going to create a cluster very competitive in this area”.
The idea is shared by Hugo Barros, coordinator of CRIA, Division of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer at the University of Algarve, who believes that this project can place the Algarve «on the map of the best that exists in the areas of ICT. We don't have worse companies than the others, nor worse dynamics, quite the opposite. We have to add the critical mass, because it is very dispersed», he explains to our newspaper.
Hugo Barros considers that the Algarve has a «group of companies that are the best in the country, we did not have the capacity to gather this critical mass in a common place, where they can share experiences, contacts and enhance relations with the University».
That place isn't working yet, but the critical mass is already gathering and the Algarve Evolution was born, an association that has representatives of companies such as Hubel, Vanguard, Evodeck, Visualforma, Dengun, Itelmatis, Algardata, in its installation committee, Sisgarbe, Impokulis, Yourdata, MoonShapes, Turbine Kreuzberg and Easy Sensing.
In total, around 40 companies were contacted, 20 of which are «actively involved in the promotion of the association». However, the aim is to “bring together as many companies as possible” in the field of technologies.
According to Miguel Fernandes, from Dengun, it is necessary to change the “paradigm of competition between companies. The biggest victory we already have is that we are all sitting at the same table to see how this can develop».
Cláudio Martins, from Visualforma, believes that it is important for companies to come together to «gain scale. We have a lot of quality things in the region, but we never have scale. Here we are trying to overcome this issue of dimension».
Tourism is the main engine of the Algarve's economy, but in ten years' time, this group of entrepreneurs would like there to be an alternative. «We have, in the area of ICT, a specialized workforce that is being educated here and ends up going abroad. We want to start retaining our young people and attracting others from outside. If we don't do this, we will continue to be dependent on tourism. The only way to reverse this is to create a ten-year plan and vision for this ICT sector. It is necessary to put all the pieces together: the University, companies, local authorities. It has to be the entire region», they consider.
«If we manage to create an ecosystem that is sufficiently advanced in a given area of knowledge, that will give rise to a unicorn [startup valued at over $5 billion] XNUMX years from now, what impact would that have on the economy? ICT can produce as much or more than tourism already produces for the region», adds Miguel Fernandes.
The Algarve has advantages that «must be capitalized on. We have an excellent location and there is no exhaustion of resources, like in Lisbon, for example. We have an airport, the weather… How many people from Scandinavia don't gave an arm to be here for six months working, if there was a friendlier digital ecosystem? Silicon Valley is what it is because of its conditions, which are similar to the Algarve, but… the Algarve is even better».
Being better than Silicon Valley, can the Algarve reach an approximate level? Algarve Evolution believes so, but «in its dimension and in its specialization. We're not going to be able to be like Silicon Valley, which is good at all things technology, but we can be good at some of the areas. We have to compare dimensions and we have to do something on our scale».
The creation of the Tech Hub on the Penha Campus is good news, but «Tech Hub is more than a brick. We have to see the building as a headquarters, an anchorage, where we can hold events and which can be an incubator for startups. It's ours flagship, our headquarters. This is the seed of everything that can come later and the goal is to create a technologically competitive region anywhere in the world. However, you don't create a digital ecosystem with a building. O hub it is the Algarve and there will be many other offices and other spaces», believes the association.
João Guerreiro, president of Algarve STP, an entity that should assume a management role at the Tech Hub, agrees with this vision. In declarations to the Sul Informação, the former dean of the University of Algarve explains that this project «is not a specific, physical reality. It is a network that is being created in the Algarve with a group of information technology companies, energy companies, universities, municipal councils, incubators that are being promoted by local authorities and other entities, such as the IEFP or the IPMA».
Since its creation, Algarve STP has had four partners, but with the Tech Hub about to become a reality, «there has already been an invitation to other municipal councils, but also to IEFP and IAPMEI, to become members», reveals João Warrior.
«We have a number of companies in the Algarve, over 200, which work in the area of technologies. What is intended is to agglomerate, to give coherence. This is a transversal sector, with a future. All sectors need a strong ICT component,” he adds.
Tech Hub is not yet born, but there are already plans for expansion
Tech Hub has not yet started to receive companies, but, according to Paulo Santos, vice president of the Chamber of Faro, «the first floor is already complete and the second is practically full». Therefore, the municipality has plans so that, in the future, there may be an expansion of the Tech Hub beyond the limits of the University of Algarve.
Within the scope of meeting with Nelson de Souza, Secretary of State for Development and Cohesion, to present the hub project, this idea came up. «Taking advantage of the fact that we have the Penha Sports Complex, half-walled with the Campus, the possibility arose of having a second phase of the Tech Hub next door. We started to look and the urbanization plan of Penha has foreseen a traditional hotel in that space, next to the Football Association of the Algarve», reveals Paulo Santos to Sul Informação.
According to the mayor, «we are going to take this lot defined for the hotel, with 17 thousand square meters, which has been public auction twice and was empty, and in another, which has had a use that, perhaps, is not ideal, and let's give it flexibility. Then we can create a double or triple Tech Hub extension. There are between 8 to 10 thousand square meters».
In the hotel component, «we are going to make the lot more flexible so that, by public auction, it is possible to work in a logic of temporary accommodation. There may be a reception area for university students, or a reception area with studios, in response to the workplace that will be created there. It will be an area with leisure and sports areas, which are essential conditions for employees of this type of company».
This process of changing the urbanization plan takes “about a year. We are already working on it. Then, the next step will depend on the dynamics of Tech Hub and private initiative».
Paulo Santos believes that the creation of the Tech Hub «is an opportunity for Faro and for the Algarve", not least because "there are not many places in Europe that combine quality of life, climate and accessibility, with the airport, and with any part of Europe at the distance of one flight and with two flights it is possible to arrive to any part of the world».
«These are ingredients that allow any seed that is sown on the ground to flourish», concludes Paulo Santos.
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