Acredita Portugal inaugurated a new incubation project for creative industries, technological entrepreneurship and the social economy in partnership with the municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia. The launch of the space also serves as a kick-off moment for new initiatives to support local entrepreneurs and business ideas.

Lisbon, April 18th, 2019 - A Acredita Portugal inaugurated yesterday a new incubation project aimed at providing support and tools to entrepreneurs in the creative industries, technological entrepreneurship and the social economy. The Acredita Incubação project is the result of a partnership between the Acredita Portugal association and Vila Nova de Gaia City Council.

The partnership is aimed at leveraging Acredita Portugal's 11 years of experience and network of contacts, in a new stage for the association and in a context in which the municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia is considered the largest municipal social investor in the country. The Acredita Incubação space helps to materialize this strategy.

The date was marked with an inauguration event attended by the Mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, which included free workshops associated with the theme of Entrepreneurship and sessions on how to become an entrepreneur. mentoring for local entrepreneurs. The event was also the occasion for a debate on Social Entrepreneurship with the participation of Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, Mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, Filipe Almeida, President of Portugal Inovação Social, Karim Merali, CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation, Pedro Ricardo Gomes, Head of Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship at Banco Montepio, and Fernando Fraga, Director of Innovation at Acredita Portugal.

From this discussion, it emerges that there is a new reality with regard to Social Entrepreneurship, motivated by a transformation of mentalities among young entrepreneurs in which this type of concern takes on a more central role, in a different way from the "necessity" entrepreneurship found in the recent post-crisis period.

At the same time, the challenge of rethinking the characterization of the sector and its related companies and organizations is fundamental. Projects with a social dimension, as they are usually identified, are joined by companies of a traditional type, but whose activity has a secondary impact on the community in which they operate. The current reality is also one of the development of projects with a public dimension through private capital entities.

Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, Mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, justifies the importance of this partnership, given that "the starting point for innovation is social innovation, in which Vila Nova de Gaia wants to be an example"and framed the new project within the local history of community support.

Through this new incubation project, as Fernando Fraga, Innovation Director at Acredita Portugal, explained, "It becomes possible to provide a space dedicated to the personalized accompaniment of new projects, ensuring the attraction of investment, the growth of the team and the optimization of its business model. We want this to be a space for consolidating these projects and the impetus for launching them on the market."

The newly opened incubation space, divided into two locations, has the capacity to support a total of 75 entrepreneurial projects, 30 linked to the creative industries and 45 linked to new technologies and the social economy. Despite being regional, the incubator will have a national scope, based on a wide network of contacts and partners and a unique vision of supporting entrepreneurship, the result of more than a decade of experience by Acredita Portugal in igniting projects.

The aim is also to implement new initiatives with an impact on the local economy. A program to support the business ideas of unemployed people is already underway, through a protocol signed with the IEFP, and it is planned to use old commercial spaces in the municipality to showcase and sell to the public products developed as part of new incubated projects.

Entrepreneurs can now apply to be incubated via the website https://www.acreditaincubacao.pt/candidaturas.

With the invitation from Vila Nova de Gaia City Council, Acredita Portugal is taking a necessary step towards broadening its scope and supporting the evolution of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Portugal.