More than 15 thousand people work every day at Taguspark, the largest science and technology park in the country. In an interview with Oeiras Valley, CEO Eduardo Baptista Correia talks about the competitive advantages of this infrastructure and projects the future of Taguspark.
Plenty of green spaces. Organised parking. Excellent technological infrastructures. A wide range of services that provide well-being and happiness to those who work there. A unique environment of complementarity between education, innovation and the business world. These are some of the main assets of Taguspark – the largest science and technology park in Portugal. Eduardo Baptista Correia, Taguspark’s CEO, explains in an interview that the park’s ambition is to contribute to the creation of solutions that can be exported.
What makes Taguspark a unique infrastructure in the country?
Taguspark is the largest science and technology park in Portugal. It is the park with the most resident companies, the most incubated companies, the most people working there and the most reference projects. And, throughout its history, it has shown how to make a good connection between the university, the research centres and the business environment.
We want to be the benchmark in some matters that are in the DNA of a science and technology park, namely, with regard to supporting projects that contribute to economic development, to the growth of exports and to the ranking of the country and the Oeiras Valley region.
We also want to be a civic reference. In that sense, we identified four pillars.
The first pillar is behavioural and is related to the goal of having no cigarette butts on the floor, no papers on the floor and no badly-parked cars.
The second pillar concerns the separation of solid waste. In the context of the circular economy, we have been developing some interesting projects regarding this matter. Cigarette butts, for example, are going to be part of a project that is being developed at the ISQ, in which a startup is creating a brick for civil construction that uses cigarette butts as its raw material.
The third, longer-term pillar is related to our desire to guarantee our energy independence. In that sense, we will gradually introduce solar energy sources.
Finally, the fourth pillar is that of dignity at work. We want to gradually ensure that the minimum wage at Taguspark is over a thousand euros.
How is the dimension of the Taguspark proven?
Taguspark is not only the largest science and technology park. It is the largest working city in Portugal. In working terms, between 15,000 and 20,000 people reside here and between 150 and 200 companies are based here. We have 120 thousand square metres of built construction. We are currently developing three new buildings: a four-star hotel; a new building for the PHC and another building for a company currently residing in Taguspark.
And we have enormous growth potential. There is a second phase where we can build between 150 and 400 thousand square metres. Therefore, we are the largest working city in Portugal and we have the capacity to grow more than double the current structure of Taguspark.
“Taguspark is not only the largest science and technology park. It is the largest working city in Portugal. In working terms, between 15,000 and 20,000 people reside here and between 150 and 200 companies are based here”
What are the main advantages of Taguspark being located in the municipality of Oeiras?
First of all, its geographical location: we are almost equidistant from the centre of Lisbon and the centre of Cascais, with great proximity to the A5, IC 19 and Lisbon International Airport. From the point of view of quality of life, we have absolutely magnificent views.
Also noteworthy is the fact that we are in the municipality that has grown the most in recent decades. Oeiras has between 30% and 40% of the technological capacity installed in Portugal, which is an extraordinary achievement. On the other hand, it is good to be surrounded by ambitious people and institutions. And we have no doubt that the Oeiras City Council is a national reference in the management of the territory. In this way, Taguspark benefits from the fact that it is part of a collective that shares the same ambitions and that often serves as inspiration.
What attracts companies to Taguspark?
Today, being located in Taguspark is an asset for companies. On the other hand, we will be one of the first entities in Portugal to provide 5G. Throughout its almost 26 years of history, Taguspark has always been a reference in the ease and power of the telecommunications infrastructures it offers.
Another asset of Taguspark is the environment of complementarity that we cultivate. Knowledge is not watertight here. We all learn from each other. An example of this is the “Quem é Quem” (“Who’s Who”) programme, where we disclose what the organisations that are installed here do. The objective of this initiative is to ensure that companies find those who complement them at Taguspark, those who can serve them and the partners with whom they can do business..
What are Taguspark’s biggest goals for the future?
I would like to see Taguspark integrated in a vision for the development of the national economy. Our ambition is to create solutions that can be exported to the entire world. And in this field, I have argued that Portugal can only get rich if it looks at its main asset: the sea. When we look at the exclusive economic zone, we are the largest country in Europe. I would like to see Taguspark as a benchmark in the incubation and development of projects in the area of the ocean economy worldwide, as we can explore the sea in many different ways: as a source of energy or as a source of food, among many others.
