The competition notice has already opened, for the Algarve2030 regional program, which has five million euros to support micro and small companies in the region to invest in economic diversification, innovation and modernization.
Operations that promote the diversification of the regional production base, related to the creation, expansion or modernization of companies, are eligible for support.
Operations are considered to contribute to the diversification of the production base when they contribute to the development of activities in the industry sector, or to the dynamization of regional strategy domains (Sea Economy, Endogenous Land Resources, Digitalization and ICT and Environmental Sustainability) .
This notice does not include activities included in the tourism sector.
According to the Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission, this notice «allows investments to be included such as the acquisition of machinery and equipment, renovation works and other constructions, as long as they are duly justified by the objective of the operation, consultancy, among others».
With an allocation of European funds of five million euros, coming from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the maximum financing rate is 60% of eligible expenses.
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), as highlighted on the topic “Companies in Portugal” published on December 15th, the number of companies registered in 2022 in the Algarve (87,4 thousand) was the highest since 2008, accounting for 10.093 more companies than in the previous year.
Micro-enterprises dominate the region's business universe, maintaining their representation at around 96,7%, with almost 70% of regional companies being individual, a structure very close to that observed in 2008, with a growth of 17% relative to 2021.
The number of companies with 10 or more paid people (2.761) increased by 12% year-on-year, corresponding to 3,2% of the total number of companies in the Algarve, highlighting that among these, the high-growth ones (246) and the “gazela ” (37) now represent 8,9% and 1,34%, respectively.
Personnel employed in companies in the region, around 205 thousand individuals, increased by 13,7% compared to 2021.
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