“I see many things happening here that the Government of Portugal has also done in more recent years”, Artur Pereira told Lusa.

In the opinion of the company's general director for Portugal and Brazil, the example of Lisbon was not only useful for Rio de Janeiro, “but also for many other cities”, such as the capital of Qatar, Doha, “where measures were announced by the Government that had already been announced by Portugal”, such as the creation of hubs and investment funds aimed at improving the economic investment environment for startups.

“Here in Rio de Janeiro, the Portuguese experience was already well known”, he said, referring to the “success of the city of Lisbon and Portugal in the area of technology”.

Artur Pereira was referring to the recent creations of the innovation and technology hub in the Porto region and the first undergraduate course at the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA).

“Basically, it is a mirror of what has already happened in the city of Lisbon. Bringing together a university with companies in the area of innovation, which is reminiscent of the Unicorn Factory in the city of Lisbon”, he detailed.

The technological event, which began in 2010 in Ireland, began to be held in the Parque das Nações area, in Lisbon, in 2016 and will remain in the Portuguese capital until 2028. The company also registered, in addition to Rio de Janeiro, an expansion to the Middle East, with the Web Summit Qatar which took place in early 2024.