"Perfect combination" of factors leads global wind company Vestas to choose Porto

This afternoon, at the inauguration of its offices in the Porto Science and Technology Park (UPTEC), Vestas presented the criteria for choosing Porto, where it found the "perfect combination" of four pillars: "access to the right talent" in the electrical, mechanical and software engineering areas; proximity to universities and research centers "of a high standard"; a business-friendly environment; and local support.

For Rui Moreira, the choice of the city by Vestas, "a victory for Portugal", reflects, in fact, "almost everything about the potential" that currently exists in the region. So much so that, from the point of view of attracting investment, "it's becoming normal for days to be important" in Porto.

"We have a modern, comfortable, innovative, interesting, very safe city to attract investment and, above all, we have knowledge" - said Rui Moreira at the Vestas offices in UPTEC, stressing that this favorable environment has translated into the location of major projects in Porto. Critical Software, Euronext and Banco Natixis are examples, among "many others", of a dynamic that makes 2017 a "particularly grateful" year in this regard, showing that the city "has definitely entered the map of international investors".

Information technology, engineering, health, biotechnology and agri-food sectors, among others, reveal the diversity of "value-added activities that are changing the city and contributing to a structural change in its pattern of specialization, creating jobs and revitalizing its economic fabric". In this urban transformation, the mayor reminded us, everyone counts. As he emphasized, the municipality appears in the process of attracting investment, via Invest Porto, as "just one of the instruments" supporting private initiative that adds value to the region in social, economic and innovation terms.

Under this broad framework, Rui Moreira concluded that, Vestas' investment is "one of the most significant, not only because of its impact on qualified employment in the city, but also because it will have a profound impact on an area in which the country has been investing heavily for several years now - renewable energies, namely wind energy production".

With this investment, Vestas wants to affirm its leadership in the world and its "ambition to reduce the cost of energy faster than any other company in the wind energy sector", says its Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Anders Vedel.