Innovation and qualification boost Porto's economy: An outstanding economic portrait

The investment in Research and Development and the level of qualification are the key factors that distinguish Porto's economy from the rest of the country. The data from the Novobanco study refer to 2021 and were presented in the debate promoted by the ECO newspaper, which was attended by the councillor for Economy, Employment and Entrepreneurship, Ricardo Valente.

Porto registers a growing and expressive trend in innovation, with the greatest weight - 371 million euros - led by higher education, followed by companies and the public investment. The Invicta has the highest number of researchers per thousand inhabitants: 32% exceeds the country's average of 5.4%.

Still in the field of innovation and competitiveness, the survey refers to the 4,474 Porto projects approved under Portugal 2020, funded at around 963 million euros. The same amount was allocated by the Recovery and Resilience Plan to another 2,441 projects, mostly in the areas of Transport, such as the metro network, and Health, within the national networks of integrated continued care and palliative care.

The Novobanco survey found that the turnover of companies in Porto was more than 15 billion euros in 2021, an increase on the previous year, and representing 3.5% of the country's total.

Most of the companies with operations in the city are in the legal and accounting, consulting, architecture and engineering sectors. This is followed by trade and repair of vehicles and the area of administration and support services.

With regard to qualification levels, workers in Porto are above the national average. In the areas of Science and Technology, the city has 704 graduates per thousand inhabitants.

Novobanco also analysed the workers' income and concluded that the net income is 37% higher than the rest of the country and that the purchasing power is also 54% above the national average.

In 2021, the city reached 105.5 million euros in income from tourist accommodation establishments. The number of overnight stays is led by the Portuguese, followed by the Spanish, French and Germans.

In the presentation of the survey participated the director of Novobanco, Luís Ribeiro, the Financial Director of the Taylor's group, Rui Magalhães, Jorge Quintas, President of the Nelson Quintas group, and Filipe Barrias, General Director of the Barrias group, owner of the Guarany and Majestic cafés, who analysed the Porto's economy and the new challenges.

For Ricardo Valente, Porto is experiencing "the best moment ever as a city". The Councillor for Economy, Employment and Entrepreneurship believes that "never in a decade, the city had such a great transformation, in economic terms", that brought it an "economic specialization". Currently, he said, tourism represents about 17% of employment, with the area of technology already providing 14% of the total.

Ricardo Valente emphasizes "the area of influence goes as far as Braga and Aveiro", making the area "the largest hub producer of graduates in Science, Mathematics and Computing". "This allowed to bring an enormous flow of foreign investment", around 2.7 billion euros, in the Porto Metropolitan Area, in the last three years, and more than 17,000 jobs created.

Regarding the dynamism of the tourism sector, the councillor noted that Porto had experienced "a radical change in the spending profile," with North Americans leading the volume of spending in the city in the first quarter of the year.

Ricardo Valente also advanced the municipality's plans to "create a gastronomy and business centre in the city, made in partnership with the Basque Culinary Center". "We want to create a space for value creation, research and innovation, from the point of view of local gastronomy and training", said the Councillor for the Economy, Employment and Entrepreneurship.

And he concluded by expressing the wish that "Porto should be a city and not a resort. We want it to be a good city to live in, to visit and to work in", said Ricardo Valente.